Not as it seems
by Lionheart22
Summary: Saber destroyed the Grail never to see Shirou again. But is that the case? Perhaps we weren't given the whole picture. SaberXShirou RinXArcher. Chapter Thirteen is now live.
1. The End of the Line

Not as it seems

"Give the order, my master!" Saber cried, "Spend your last command seal and let us be done with it."

"Saber, I order you. Destroy the Holy Grail!" Shirou cried though the tears in his eyes.

With a mighty scream, Saber swung Excalibur towards the waiting portal and rent it asunder.

"It is done, my master." Saber replied. "I'm sorry, Shirou."

"For what?" Shirou asked.

"It seems that despite all we have fought for and the challenges we have faced I am still being called back to my own time. Please forgive me, Shirou." Saber begged.

"Saber, please don't hate yourself. If you must hate anyone let it be me for giving you such a painful order." Shirou replied.

"That is one thing I could never do, Shirou. Though I am still angry at myself." Saber admitted.

"Why is that?" Shirou asked.

"I am angry at myself that it is only now that I have learned that it is ok to be selfish for once in my life, if for no other reason than I have earned it. But there is more, I am angry at myself for locking my feelings for you deep inside myself and robbing us of what little time we did have." Saber pined.

"I guess it was inevitable that we were put together wasn't it, Saber?" Shirou remarked.

"It would seem so. We both suffer from the same flaw, the inability to think of ourselves before anyone else, even if it causes us immense pain or sorrow. I'm sorry, Shirou. I know that is not something you or I will be able to change and will invariably lead to pain. Forgive me, Shirou!" Saber cried out.

"For what?" Shirou asked, confused.

"For this." Saber said as she threw her arms around Shirou and returned the kiss from the night before.

Shirou was left in awe of the beauty who had just surrendered her heart to him.

"I'm sorry, Shirou. I know this will only increase your pain, knowing what have you lost. Forgive the selfishness of this woman who has fallen in love with you." Saber whispered through her own tears.

"There is nothing to forgive, I guess we're both being selfish in our own way right now." Shirou admitted.

"I'm sorry, Shirou. I know we had to destroy the Grail but I can't help but feel we have made a grave mistake in doing so and thrown away our one chance at happiness." Saber lamented.

"I know, I had that feeling too." Shirou added.

"I'm sorry, Shirou. My time is short and I do not think I can delay my return much longer but please permit me to be selfish one last time?" Saber requested.

"Anything for you, Saber." Shirou promised.

"Please, I want to hear you call me Arturia one last time." Saber requested.

"I will always love you and keep you in my heart, Arturia." Shirou replied.

"You do not know how happy you have made this woman, Shirou. I beg you to forgive me for leaving you, my only excuse is that I would pay any price to be able to stay." Arturia said sobbing, "Please, just hold me one last time?"

Shirou did so without a second thought, pulling a grieving Arturia into his arms and sheltering her as best he could with them. Arturia simply used her arms to hold on to him, afraid to let go.

"Shirou, there is one last thing I need to say…"

"I love you, Shirou" Saber whispered as she faded out of Shirou's arms.

Having bottled up all the pain and despair until now, Shirou's legs gave out and collapsed under him reducing him to a broken hearted heap.

"Arturia, why? Why did you have to leave me all alone?"

***************************************************************************************************************

Arturia awoke to find her propped up against a tree on the edge of a bloody battlefield.

"My King, you are awake!" A knight in white exclaimed cheerfully, "How are you feeling?"

"A little better. I dreamed a little, it was an… invaluable experience." Arturia replied.

"Sire, just hold on, reinforcements are coming and we shall take you back to Camelot." The knight replied, a little off balance.

"Bedivere, I'm sorry but there is something you must do for me now." Arturia returned.

"What is your order, my liege?" Bedivere responded.

"You must take Excalibur through this forest and give it to the Lady of the Lake. Go with haste, my knight." Arturia ordered.

Bedivere took the sword and scabbard and mounted her horse to do as her King had commanded.

"I shall rest my eyes until you shall return, dear sister." Arturia whispered after the retreating figure.

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Shirou somehow found the strength to get up and stumble home with Illya still in his arms. He lay her down in his bed and laid out some of her clothes for her in the morning. He then stumbled outside and plopped himself on the porch and abandoned himself to his sorrow.

Behind him Rin walked slowly, having recovered enough mana to heal enough wounds to allow her to get around unimpeded. 'That poor boy, I hate being right but he set himself up for this. He deserves better than this after all he sacrificed and suffered through.' She came up behind Shirou and simply put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"She's gone, Rin. And she's never coming back." Shirou sobbed.

"I know. I'm sorry, Shirou. I knew but it was just too painful to say. Knowing didn't make it easier for me either." Rin comforted him.

"For you?" Shirou asked.

"Yes, that night Archer died that idiot took something a lot more than my chance at the Grail with him.' Rin said, a tear forming in her eye, "And to think I loved that colossal idiot."

"I'm sorry, Rin." Shirou whispered.

"It's my fault, I knew it could only end this way and yet here I am forgetting I knew better. To be honest, I'm not sure who the bigger idiot here is, him for getting himself killed needlessly or me for falling in love with him knowing the only possible outcome." Rin sobbed.

They both just stayed as they were sobbing themselves into exhaustion. They fell asleep right where they sat.

******************************************************************

"Good morning- huh?" Sakura greeted them slightly bewildered.

"Oh, good morning, Sakura." Shirou yawned.

"Are you ok, Senpai?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, why?" Shirou lied.

"Well, you seem a bit depressed." Sakura said, ignoring Shirou's sleeping on the porch next to Rin.

"I'm just a little tired." Shirou deflected.

"GOOOOOD MORNING, SHIROOOOU!" a familiar voice rang out.

"Oh, hey, Fujimura-sensei." Shirou replied.

"Huh? This isn't like you, Shirou? What happened? Did Saber dump you?" Fujimura teased, not realizing how close to the truth she had come.

"I'm sorry, Sensei, but Saber… left." Rin cut in.

"SHE WHAT? After I was kind enough to invite her to our table! The nerve!" Fujimura raged.

"Actually…" Sakura interrupted.

"Hey, Sakura. Is that tofu I smell? Come on let's eat!" Fujimura chimed.

With that everyone sat down at the table for breakfast in a subdued silence.

*****************************************************************************

Arturia was awoken by the sound of galloping hooves and saw Bedivere returning from her task.

"It is done, my lord." Bedivere confirmed.

"Thank you, you have fulfilled a Kings command and for that you should be rewarded but I fear I instead am leaving you with a curse. A poor reward for a life of selfless service, I'm afraid." Arturia responded.

"What is it, my King?" Bedivere asked.

"Please look after Camelot. I know you can rule it ably but I fear that I have given you a curse that not even the darkest of magics can ever compare to. I pray it doesn't destroy you like it did me and you are still able to find happiness." Arturia commanded.

"I'm honored, my King. But I fear I am not worthy." Bedivere protested.

"You are the finest of my knights and I can think of none who is more worthy of this cursed blessing. I am honored to have called you sister." Arturia insisted.

"As you wish, my liege." Bedivere acknowledged.

"I fear my sleep this time shall be a bit… long." Arturia said, "Have you ever dreamed Bedivere?"

"A few times, my liege." Bedivere replied.

"Have you woken up from a dream only to wish you could return to it?" Arturia asked.

"On occasion, my lord." Bedivere answered.

"Is it possible to do so?" Arturia asked.

"I've done it myself a few times. The dreamer need only want it…" Bedivere replied.

"Ah, good night, my dear sister." Arturia sighed, closing her eyes.

"Do you behold, the continuation of your dream, my King?" Bedivere asked the King's peaceful form.

************************************************************************************

Rin went back to her room when a certain book fell off the shelf with a loud noise. Annoyed, Rin went to put it back until she happened to the notice the cover read, "The Grail Arcanum". She picked up and noticed a page had been book marked and read it.

"It can't be, but why?" Rin asked herself.

***************************************************************

"Greetings, Arturia!" A voice greeted.

"What, there is only one who is permitted to call me by that name." Arturia yelled.

"My apologies, Saber!" the voice continued.

"There are only a few people who know me by that name and they are forever lost to me." Aruturia raged, "Stop tormenting me so!"

"I'm sorry, I digress. Do you know why you are here?" the voice asked.

"No, why have I been brought to this… room or whatever it is?" Arturia challenged.

"You are here because of a certain wish you had, something about rewriting history, was it?" The voice reasoned.

"Yes but how did you-?" Arturia gasped.

"Is that still your wish?" the voice went on.

"WHO. ARE. YOU? I'VE HAD IT WITH YOUR GAMES!" Arturia raged, reached to her side.

"Arturia, have you already forgotten who gave you the power to wield that forgotten blade?" The voice asked.

"It can't be. I destroyed you and disappeared." Arturia said shocked.

"Come now, an artifact older than man itself? Destroyed?" The Grail continued.

"But then what did I destroy then?" Arturia asked.

"Kotomine was indeed accurate in saying that the Grail when summoned would use the most destructive means possible to fulfill the holders wish but only so far as he went." The Grail clarified.

"What do you mean?" Arturia asked.

"The Grail would indeed have been summoned but the use of a human life in the summoning would've tainted it so it would be as he described. So for all intents and purposes he was telling the truth but not all of it." The Grail explained.

"But if that wasn't the real Grail why did I disappear after destroying it?" Arturia asked, not entirely getting it.

"You see, technically it was the Grail but by destroying it you not only defeated the last remaining servant but you also destroyed a version of the Grail thus calling you back to your own time. However, I was unable to manifest before you returned to your own time and so you were cheated out of your wish." The Grail finished.

"Cheated? But if I got cheated out of my wish, why am I here talking to you?" Arturia asked.

"A fair question with a simple answer. I'm here to give you your wish."

********************************************************************

After finishing up breakfast and cleaning up Fujimura and Sakura left leaving Shirou wondering what to do with his day. He eventually decided to go for a walk and eventually found himself standing on the bridge where he and Saber had ended their first and only date.

"This was your favorite spot, wasn't it?" Shirou asked.

**********************************************************************

"My wish?" Arturia asked in shock.

"I don't see what is so hard to understand about this, it's pretty simple." A familiar voice said.

"Archer? What are you doing here?" Arturia asked.

"Waiting for you to make your wish, of course. The sad thing is Shirou is selfless to a fault, he knows how much pain Rin is feeling. So what does he do? Instead of using his wish to bring you back he uses it to bring me instead." Archer replied.

"That sounds like Shirou alright." Arturia admitted.

"It's pathetic but at the same time it did make my obtaining the Grail pointless." Archer continued.

"What do you mean?" Arturia asked.

"Can't you see the resemblance? Well, I'll break it down for you, thanks to him managing to save both Sakura and Illya, he changed his future." Archer revealed.

"You can't mean? You mean, you're a version of him from the future?" Arturia asked.

"One of them yes, how else do you think I was able to teach him how to develop his Magus powers?" He responded.

"Okay, so what now?" Arturia asked.

"You make your wish and I grant it, pretty straightforward." The Grail replied, "Do you still want to redo the selection of the King?"

"No, I've lived enough for others it's time I lived for myself, please, I beg you. Send me back to be with Shirou, for good this time." Arturia pleaded.

"More than happy to, you've earned it, Arturia. Are both of you ready?" The Grail asked.

"Yes." Archer and Arturia answered in unison.

*****************************************************************************************

Archer and Arturia both awoke to find themselves in a familiar forest. They shook the dust off themselves and got up realizing where they were. They both started walking out of the forest and towards a place they know all too well.

Rin was drinking her tea when she heard the door slide open.

"Shirou, I thought I told you that I preferred the triangular tea bags as opposed to the square ones." She complained.

Hearing no reply she went on, "Now what am I going to do with YOU!"

"WHY YOU LITTLE, I SHOULD STRANGLE YOU FOR WHAT YOU DID TO ME! I TOLD YOU TO SLOW HIM DOWN BUT NO; YOU HAD TO GO AND TRY TO KILL HIM! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW… much… pain…" Rin finally paused bursting into tears.

She finally just flung herself onto Archer and just sat there sobbing for a few minutes before gaining her composure again.

"I'm willing to forgive you this time but only if you make me a decent pot of tea." She said with a cunning smile on her face.

"Now, Saber. What are we going to do with you?"

Arturia swallowed nervously not entirely liking where this is going.

****************************************************************************

Shirou finally wandered his way back home and had just gotten his shoes off when he was approached by Rin.

"Shirou, I need your help with something." Rin asked, already knowing what his response would be.

"Sure, what is it?" Shirou asked.

"Well, um I can't exactly explain it, it's one of those things you need to see to understand." Rin replied.

"Ok…" Shirou responded, not entirely sure what she was driving at.

Rin took him to Saber's room and saw his confusion.

"This is- There's nothing in here." Shirou protested.

"You'll see. Oh, just get in there." She pushed him impatiently.

***************************************************************************

Shirou was a little confused by Rin's behavior but decided to indulge her for now. He looked around the room and he didn't see anything except for-

"Saber?" Shirou asked.

"Oh, Shirou. You already forgot what I asked you to do for me when we parted?" Arturia asked.

"Arturia, is this real? Am I dreaming? If I am please don't wake me up." Shirou asked.

"See for yourself." Arturia offered as she threw herself into his arms.

"You really back aren't you?" Shirou asked.

"Yes, and this time I promise you I'm not going anywhere."

They both just sat there in each other's arms enjoying each other's company.

***********************************************************************************

"I know you've probably heard this before but that is a romance that will always be at the kindergarten level." Archer remarked.

"Are you kidding, I've been saying that to myself the entire time." Rin shot back.

Rin, how are we going to explain her sudden reappearance and the fact that there is yet another boarder here?" Archer asked.

"You worry too much, who do you think you're dealing with?" Rin asked.

"Right, I had forgotten." Archer said quietly.

"And don't you forget it!" Rin yelled.

"As if I could." Archer mumbled.

"I heard that!"

*******************************************************************

"I'm glad you're back, Arturia." Shirou whispered into her ear that night after having moved into the same bed.

"Me too, I wouldn't give this up for anything in the world." Arturia replied.

"I love you, Arturia." Shirou whispered.

"I love you too, Shirou." Arturia whispered back before snuggling up to her lover and falling asleep.

"I will be yours now and forever more." Were her last thoughts before sleep took her.

Shirou lay awake admiring the beauty that lay snuggled up to him for a while before sleep took him as well.

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I do hope I got all the characters spot on, even the minor ones. Yes, sue me I'm sappy but I was not satisified with how the

original anime ending went. I wanted my ending to be one of those over the top kind of endings and well here it is, sappy to the

core.


	2. The Persistent Threat

The Persistent Threat

Rin knocked on Shirou and Arturia's door quite loudly so that they would be awake in time for Fujimori's and Sakura's arrival for breakfast. When they didn't wake up she was tempted to push the issue but decided against it.

"If they won't get up when I knock, well, I can hardly be held responsible for the results, now can I?" Rin thought to herself, a devious smile creeping along her face.

"Goooood Mooooorning, Shirooou!" Fujimura chirped coming in the door.

"Good morning, Fujinee-sensei." Rin respectfully greeted her.

"Good morning, Tosaka-sempai." Sakura greeted Rin.

"Hey, where's Shirou?" Fujinee whined, "He's not here and I'm starving."

"I think he's still asleep in his room." Rin suggested, just barely able to suppress an evil smile.

"Why that little! If he thinks he can just sleep in for as long as he wants and keep the rest of us from all this delicious food, he has another thing coming. When I get my hands on him…" Fujinee fumed.

************************************************************************

Rin and Archer watched as Fujinee stormed off towards Shirou and Arturia's room.

"I get the feeling you knew this was going to happen from the start." Archer remarked.

"Well, yeah. What do you take me for?" Rin added.

"All I can get. Shirou always seems to stumble through a situation using the most painful method possible, doesn't he?" Archer retorted.

"Well yeah, that's his charm. Hey, are you trying to get yourself in trouble again so soon?" Rin yelled.

"Whatever could you mean? I'm shocked and appalled that you think so little of me." Archer responded in mock outrage.

"Whatever, you're lucky that I'm just waiting for the fireworks or else I would let you have it!" Rin shot back.

"Fireworks? Just what did you do?" Archer asked.

"Do? I didn't do anything. If they had just gotten up when I knocked this all could have been avoided. What a shame, and I went out of my way to do them a favor." Rin responded.

"How thoughtful of you." Archer said sarcastically.

"Don't you even!" Rin yelled, about to continue.

It was at this time that Fujinee made it into Shirou's room and was greeted by an appalling sight.

************************************************************************

Up until this point Arturia and Shirou had been sleeping, blissfully unaware of the firestorm streaking their way. So unaware that they didn't even hear the door as it was practically ripped open.

"Shirou, if you think you can just… What!?" Fujinee started until the scene before her registered in her brain.

However it was only a few seconds before she got back into her streak.

"SHIROU EMIYA! WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?" She screamed at the top of her lungs.

By this time Shirou was wide-awake and practically bolted out of the bed retreating towards the back wall. Arturia jumped out of bed and assumed a defensive stance protecting Shirou from the wrath of a certain psychotic homeroom teacher.

"NOT ONLY ARE YOU LIVING WITH NOT ONE BUT TWO GIRLS! BUT NOW I FIND THAT YOU'RE SLEEPING IN THE SAME BED AS ONE! I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO DISGUSTED IN MY ENTIRE LIFE! WHY I OUGHT TO-" Fujinee raged.

"Miss Fujimura, there is a perfectly logical explanation for all of this." Arturia responded in her trademark authoritative voice.

"I HAVEN'T GOTTEN TO YOU, YOUNG LADY. SO JUST WAIT YOUR TURN!" Fujinee fumed back.

At this time Rin had gotten her fair share of entertainment out of the entire exchange and finally took pity on the doomed pair.

"Fujinee-sensei, I'm sure they would be more than happy to explain everything over breakfast." Rin offered.

"Breakfast is ready! YAY! Let's eat! I'm famished!" Fujinee chirped, seemingly forgetting the anger from a moment before.

************************************************************************

After they had all finished eating breakfast and Sakura had cleaned up Fujinee continued her rant from earlier.

"Shirou Emiya, you better have a good explanation for all of this!" She raged.

"Fujimura-sensei, if you would simply calm down for a minute I'm sure Shirou would be more than happy to explain." Rin interjected.

"Oh alright, but it better be good." Fujinee finally relented.

"You see, with all the people we had staying here, well things got a bit awkward since we got another boarder. So as it turned it we decided it would probably be best if we tried to save room however we could." Shirou explained.

"Well, that would explain the two of you sleeping in the same room- Hey, another boarder!? Just what kind of establishment are you running here? Is this a hotel now?" Fujinee responded, not entirely satisfied.

"Rin, why don't you explain our most recent guest." Shirou said.

"Oh, alright! Miss Fujimura, this is Archer." Rin answered.

"Archer? That is certainly an odd name, is he foreign?" Fujinee mused.

"Not really, my parents never had the most active of imaginations. They met each other at an archery competition and, well, you can see where this is going." Archer answered.

"I see. But this still doesn't explain what Shirou and this girl were doing sleeping in the same bed." Fujinee said, continuing her earlier argument, "Shirou, just who is this?"

"This is Arturia." Shirou replied simply.

"Hold on a minute, Saber leaves and you practically leap into this girls arms immediately after!? How could you?" Fujinee raged.

"Miss Fujimura, I'm shocked that you don't remember me. After all the times we've eaten together?" Arturia laughed.

"Ok, just who the heck are you?" Fujinee yelled.

"Oh, right, the hair. I am Saber." Arturia responded.

"What!?" Fujinee leapt up in shock nearly sending the table flying, "SABER, YOU HAVE A LOT OF EXPLAINING TO DO!"

"Please, I prefer to be called Arturia. Saber was just the name I was using for a while." Arturia requested.

"Fine, but that doesn't explain how you could run off like you did. Do you enjoy inflicting pain on everyone you meet or just Shirou?" Fujinee retorted.

"Well, you see…" Arturia stalled, failing to find a good explanation.

"Arturia, I'll handle this. You see an old boyfriend of hers from England called her a few days ago trying to blackmail her into marrying him." Rin explained.

"Hold on, I wasn't asking you, Miss Tosaka! Is this true?" Fujinee asked, incredulous.

"Well, yes…" Arturia admitted.

"And exactly how does that justify what you did? You just leave without a word to anyone, not even Shirou?" Fujinee continued.

"You see…" Arturia stalled, not sure how to continue.

"Fujimura-sensei, would you mind if I took it from here since the entire incident is still fresh in her mind and left her a little shaken. She explained the whole thing to me so I should be able to answer any questions you have, if that's alright." Rin cut in, coming to Arturia's rescue.

"Well, I suppose that'll be fine. Since you put it that way." Fujinee relented.

"Well, the reason she didn't say anything to anyone was because this ex-boyfriend of hers had made threats on Shirou's life hoping that Arturia here would just come running. Well, she did but not in the way he was expecting. The main reason she didn't say anything was because she knew that if Shirou knew about this he would've run off to save her from this guy and she didn't want him to get hurt on her behalf." Rin elaborated.

"Come on, do you honestly expect to believe that?" Fujinee laughed, "Well, actually something like that did happen to one of my students."

"Good, now that that's settled. Shall we?" Rin turned to Archer.

"Actually, I have a few more questions." Fujinee directed at Arturia.

"Uh, sure. I'll try to answer them as best I can." Arturia continued.

"Exactly how did this guy find you and how do you know he won't come after you again?" Fujinee asked.

"I don't actually know how he found me, I thought that once I left England he would just give up. As for whether he'll stop now, well…" Arturia trailed off.

"If you've ever seen Arturia angry, you'd already know the answer to that, Fujimura-sensei." Rin completed for her.

Arturia just glared at Rin evilly but said nothing.

"Oh, alright. I see that this is another argument I'm not going to win. I suppose I'll just have to trust that Shirou doesn't do anything indecent." Fujinee relented.

"Do you really think that Shirou would do something like that?" Rin finished.

Fujinee didn't say anything but one could hear her crying as she left, "I can't believe I lost two arguments in a row with a student."

************************************************************************

"I get the feeling we dodged a bullet on that one." Shirou said relieved after Fujinee left.

"I suppose we did. I guess this goes to show how much she cares about you, even if she has an unusual way of expressing it." Arturia commented.

"I guess you're right. Thanks, Rin. You really saved our bacon back there." Shirou continued.

"Well, it's the least I could do. No need to thank me, though. The look on Fujinee's face was payment enough. Though maybe next time you'll wake up when I knock on your door, won't you?" Rin scolded.

"I'm glad we managed to keep you entertained." Shirou shot back.

"Now if you'll excuse me Archer and I are going out to grocery store to buy some tea leaves." Rin excused herself.

With that she and Archer walked out of the house.

"Well, at least we have some peace and quiet for a little while." Shirou remarked.

"I guess we do." Arturia admitted.

Shirou moved in to kiss Arturia when-

"Shirou! You might want to have a look at this!" Rin said, a little worried.

"Rin, I swear if this isn't important!" Shirou complained.

He and Arturia walked outside to where Rin and Archer where standing.

"So, what was so important you needed to drag me out here?" Shirou asked, "Hey, wait a minute!"

"That girl on the bike, she isn't moving. If she had stopped pedaling she should've fallen over by now, yet she hasn't. What's going on, Rin?" Arturia wondered.

"I don't know, there's only one thing that makes sense but it's virtually impossible." Rin complained.

"What are you talking about?" Shirou asked.

"What I'm saying is, is that someone actually managed to stop time." Rin declared.

"What, but how?" Shirou asked.

"That's what doesn't make sense. It sounds perfectly logical in theory but in practice the mana required for a spell of this magnitude would make it virtually impossible for any magus to actually cast it." Rin concluded.

"And yet here we are with clear evidence that some has done just that." Archer added.

"But how could someone do something like this without stealing the souls of thousands if not tens of thousands of people? Surely there would've been news of an incident of that magnitude occurring!" Rin complained.

"It's really quite simple. Someone erected a Reality Marble." A young voice chimed in.

"Illya? Do you know what is going on?" Shirou asked.

"Sort of. But there's still a few problems we have to deal with, even knowing there is a Reality Marble in place." Illya continued, "Tosaka, surely you know what I'm talking about, don't you?"

"Yes, even with a Reality Marble the cost of a spell of this magnitude would be reduced but it wouldn't be enough to change the fact that there would be a huge expenditure of mana involved." Rin mused.

"Yes, and since there have been no unexplained gas leaks lately, we still don't know where the mana came from." Illya continued.

"That still leaves the problem at hand, how did someone erect a Reality Marble this quickly without us sensing it?" Rin asked.

"Don't look at me, I'm nowhere near as good with this kind of stuff as you are." Shirou said, responding to Illya's and Rin's stare.

"I think the only conclusion we can draw is rather obvious. Whoever we're dealing with is obviously very skilled and has a tremendous reserve of mana." Rin added.

"But who would have the mana for something like this? Not even a homunculus would have the circuits required for this kind of spell." Illya said.

"Well, let's try and find out. Come on, until we figure out what's going on we should stick together." Rin said.

Everyone agreed and walked out to the main street. They were about to move on when Rin stiffened in place.

"Do you feel that, Archer?" Rin asked.

"Yes, it's definitely a servant." Archer said.

"But how is that possible, we destroyed the Grail!" Arturia said.

"I don't know but I doubt we want to wait around and find out." Archer said.

"You're right about one thing, you definitely don't want to wait around to find out. But what will you do now that you have?" A sinister voice asked.

"What, YOU!" Arturia screamed.

"That's right, you're still my property and I intend to collect." The voice continued.

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For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the honorifics in Japanese culture. Here's a quick guide of the ones I used.

Sensei- teacher or someone who has achieved a certain level of mastery in a field

Sempai- used to denote respect for another usually as a result of age or seniority


	3. A New Challenger

A New Challenger

"Arturia doesn't belong to anyone!" Shirou yelled.

"And who asked for your opinion? Since when are you worthy of touching a King's property?" the voice continued.

"Giglamesh! I've told you once, I'll tell you again, there is no way I'll come with you! Not even if I have to die a million times!" Arturia screamed.

"It's so cute that you actually think that it matters what you want." Giglamesh sneered.

"Prepare yourself, knave!" Arturia screamed, rushing forward preparing to fight.

"Aren't you a brave one? What will you do now that you've lost all your powers as a servant?" Giglamesh challenged.

"He's right, you don't stand a chance without your powers. You protected me before it's about time I protected you." Shirou agreed.

"But.." Arturia protested.

"Don't worry, I can take care of myself." Shirou promised, moving forward to challenge Giglamesh.

"You again? You just don't learn do you?" Giglamesh laughed.

"I guess I'm just stubborn." Shirou shot back.

"And that will be the end of you!" Giglamesh screamed.

At that time Giglamesh summoned the Gates of Babylon and laughed maniacally.

"I have all these weapons, what do you hope to accomplish, no matter what you summon it will never be powerful as the original." Giglamesh tormented.

"We'll see about that!" Shirou yelled, summoning Excalibur.

"I give you points for not trying the same tick twice but did you forget who you're dealing with? Did you honestly expect me to cower in fear of that when I have the genuine article? Excalibur, a mere replica based on the legendary sword Caladbolg from Irish folklore, it was said to have leveled three mountains in just as many blows." Giglamesh said, drawing out Caladbolg from behind him.

"We'll see about that!" Shirou said, rushing forward.

"Enough, this diversion is over. Away with you!" Giglamesh screams, swinging Caladbolg at Shirou.

Shirou blocked with Excalibur but it shattered and sent him flying along the pavement.

"Now do you see the difference between us?" Giglamesh sneered.

Shirou tried to get up and face Giglamesh but was held back by Archer.

"Let me deal with this, you are no match for him. Just watch and you may learn something." Archer ordered.

"Enough, Giglamesh. I am your opponent, I am the one you must deal with!" Archer challenged.

"And just who are you supposed be? Did you forget that you're no longer a servant, too?" Giglamesh yelled.

"Enough. This distraction ends now." Archer silenced him.

With that he summoned Kansho and Bakuya and assumed an aggressive stance.

"The time for words has passed, my swords will suffice to do the talking for me." Archer said.

"Now you're speaking my language, prepare to die!" Giglamesh yelled.

He and Giglamesh fought for a few minutes until Archer's swords finally shattered prompting Archer to jump out of Giglamesh's reach.

"Heh. It appears I may need to take things to the next stage." Archer noted.

"You just figured that out now?" Giglamesh yelled.

Summoned his two swords again and he threw them at Giglamesh.

"Is that all you've got? You'll need more than these weak parlor tricks to defeat me!" Giglamesh challenged while defending himself from the flying swords.

The air crackled ominously as Archer voice echoed ominously:

_Many times I have withstood enormous pain to create thousands of weapons,_

_And yet those hands that have braved so much will never hold anything,_

_So, as I pray now, I call forth, __**UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS!**_

At this both Giglamesh and Archer were engulfed in a sea of yellow flames. They both found themselves in a barren field of swords with a series of large gears in the distance.

"What the, what is this?" Giglamesh demanded, looking around in confusion.

"This is my true Noble Phantasm, what you see before you is an endless supply of weapons. Here I can instantly create any blade I wish, the pinnacle of weaponry. What will you do when even your own weapons turn against you?" Archer threatened.

"What do you-? No, that's impossible, that's…" Giglamesh screamed.

"Don't you recognize your own blade, the one that you were so proudly demonstrating but a few minutes ago?" Archer sneered.

"Oh, now things are getting interesting, let's see you copy this!" Giglamesh challenged, drawing out Ea.

"Very well, then." Archer said, creating a copy of the very same sword.

"You don't disappoint but let's see whether it can stand up to the real article." Giglamesh said charging his sword.

"ENUMA ELISH!" Both Archer and Giglamesh yelled.

The two waves of red energy streaked towards each other and then dissipated.

"Well, it appears that I cannot defeat you as it currently stands. A pity but thankfully my orders were only to find you troublesome pups." Giglamesh said as the Reality Marble dissipated.

"And don't think I won't be coming back for my property. Saber is mine and nothing will stop me from reclaiming what is rightfully mine." Giglamesh promised as he retreated.

"That bastard, of all the people, why him?" Shirou asked.

"Shirou, he may be one of the most powerful heroes in history but he still would lack the mana to create a Reality Marble of this magnitude without some additional source of mana." Rin reasoned.

"While we're on the subject, how were you able to use your servant powers?" Shirou asked.

"Because my powers as a servant did not come directly from the Grail, they were direct result of my abilities as a Magus and so the disappearance of the Grail had little affect." Archer explained.

"Ah, ok. That explain- UNH!" Shirou cried out in pain as he collapsed.

"SHIROU!" Arturia cried out in panic, "Talk to me, are you alright?"

Not seeing any response Rin stepped in and took a look at him.

"We need to get him inside right now! It looks like that blow from Giglamesh was more severe than it first appeared. I think I'll be able to save him if we hurry." Rin announced.

They hurriedly carried him to the bed in his and Arturia's room and laid him down.

"This is going to be tricky since I used up most of my stored up gems and have been unable to siphon my mana into more to replace them." Rin said, closing her eyes in concentration.

After a few minutes of strained concentration Rin finally opened her eyes with a worried look on her face.

"I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is the wound itself isn't quite so bad and I was able to fix all the damage but the bad news is that there is some sort of curse that is slowly draining his life. I'm sorry, Arturia, but he's dying." Rin revealed.

"But surely there is something you can do, there has to be something you can try. Please try something, anything!" Arturia pleaded.

"I'm sorry but I have no idea how this curse works or even it's basic structure. Without that any attempt to remove will only kill him in the most agonizing way imaginable. I wish there was something I could do but even this is beyond my abilities." Rin said, as she and the others left the room to give her some privacy with Shirou.

"Why? Why this? Shirou, please don't die on me. I was devastated last time I left because I thought I would never be able to see you again. I can't live without you, Shirou! Please don't leave me!" Arturia pleaded through her sobs.

"And what if I were to say you didn't have to?" a voice said.

"What do you mean? What do you want?" Arturia asked.

"If you had the chance, would you save him?" the voice continued.

"What kind of question is that? Of course I would, in an instant, no matter the cost. Can you save him?" Arturia replied.

"I can save him but there will be a cost." The voice promised.

"Then please, save him." Arturia asked.

"Don't you want to know the cost first?" the voice asked.

"I DON'T CARE WHAT IT IS! JUST SAVE HIM!" Arturia begged in a desperate scream.

"Very well, the cost is a favor in exchange for this one. I wish I could just give it to you for free, considering you'll probably end up doing what I'm going to ask regardless but that is how my power works." The voice continued as a shaft of light streamed from his hand to Shirou, "There, done."

"Is that it, is he going to be ok?" Arturia asked, incredulous.

"Why take my word for it?" The voice offered.

At this moment a groan came from Shirou as he became painfully aware of his existence.

"Arturia?" Shirou asked in a panic voice, not seeing her immediately.

"I'm right here, everything is fine." Arturia reassured him.

"Thank goodness you're alright. I don't know what I'd do if I had let something happen to you." Shirou said before finally fainting again.

"Don't worry, he's fine. Healing his wounds and removing that curse took a huge toll on his body. All he needs now is rest." The voice explained, noting the panicked look on Arturia's face.

"Oh, Shirou. You're always getting hurt on my account and all I ever seem to bring you is pain and suffering." Arturia whispered regretfully.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that. Surely you've noticed it by now!" the voice admonished.

"And what am I supposed to have noticed besides the fact that I'm the main cause of his suffering?" Arturia responded angrily.

"You're way too hard on yourself, Arturia. You always were and this is not your fault nor could it ever be. You must've noticed the change in Shirou." The voice retorted.

"And what change would that be?" Arturia shot back.

"Well, you must've noticed his complete disregard for any danger to himself when you're involved at the very least." The voice continued.

"But he's just like that, we're the same in that regard. That is the flaw we both share." Arturia argued.

"Flaw? Hardly! You didn't notice that as time went on and the more he got to know you as you really were the more he disregarded his own life in favor of yours?" the voice challenged.

"He did at that but what can I ever do to earn it and at least try to make him happy?" Arturia asked.

"Look inside yourself and ask yourself this, 'Do I make him happy?' You and I both know the answer to that question. What does your heart tell you?" The voice reasoned.

"It tells me that I want to make him happy and to do that all I need to do is simply be by his side." Arturia relented.

"Remarkably simple, isn't it?" the voice asked.

"Yes, it is. Yet it seems that I managed to forget that so easily." Arturia said.

"And yet it's just those things that are most important to us, aren't they?" The voice continued.

"Yes, it is." Arturia agreed.

"Now, as I recall we had a deal, a favor for a favor. I also believe we owe our friends in the dining room an explanation, come. I wish to explain everything so that I needn't repeat myself too often." The voice said, as they walked out.

************************************************************************

"Now that we're all here, allow me to introduce myself. I am the Holy Grail!" The voice announced.

This announcement was met with an astounded silence and the chirping of crickets could be heard outside.

"Wait a minute. You're the Grail? Is this some sort of joke? Are we supposed to believe that you're the omnipotent vessel that has the power to grant any wish? The same one we all fought for not all that long ago?" Rin challenged.

"In answer to all of your questions. Yes." The grail answered.

"Right… do you care to explain then exactly why you're here?" Rin retorted.

"Ah, that was my next point. The reason I'm here is that I need your help." The grail explained.

"Let's just accept that you're the all-powerful grail for a minute. Why exactly do you need us? You already have all the power you need to do anything you want or need." Rin stated.

"That is indeed true. But you see there's a problem." The grail acquiesced.

"And what would that be?" Rin asked.

"There is now a second Grail!" The grail exclaimed.

************************************************************************

One should note that despite the fact that Ea, Giglamesh's sword, is indeed made of materials not naturally found on Earth, Archer's Reality Marble is capable of replicating it due to its very nature of bending the laws of nature to the creators will.


	4. Wait, what?

Wait, what?

"I fail to see the problem. If there's two grails that means two wishes, what's the big problem?" Rin asked.

"Well, there's only the fact that we have servants walking around without any actual masters. But don't worry it's not like they're out to kill us or anything." Archer sarcastically commented.

"While Archer here was no doubt being sarcastic he does bring up a good point. Problem is that doesn't even begin to explain the magnitude of what we're dealing with." The Grail continued on, unfazed.

"How bad could it be?" Arturia asked, "Servants, while powerful, are still servants and can be destroyed."

"This is indeed true but have you given any thought to where they could've come from?" The Grail conceded.

"Why, that's easy. The Grail, wait a minute…" Rin answered.

"Why have they been summoned?" The Grail finished.

"It couldn't possibly be for another Grail War, could it?" Rin asked.

"Good try but no. Allow me to explain. If you'll recall how I said there was another Grail…" The Grail started explained.

"Wait, don't tell me that you're going where I think you are with this?" Illya piped in.

"Sharp kid." The Grail complimented.

"Thanks." Illya replied.

"Now, allow me to explain exactly what we're dealing with. There is a second Grail but unlike myself, the original, this Grail has been corrupted beyond redemption by the use of the human sacrifice used in it's summoning." The Grail explained.

"Wait, you can mean?" Arturia gasped.

"The one and the same." The Grail clarified.

"But I destroyed it, I saw it disintegrate myself." Arturia protested.

"And that should've been the end of it and this is where things get a bit complicated and involved. When you attempted to destroy the Grail it suffered irreparable damage, or at least what would've been irreparable without outside help." The Grail explained.

"Outside help?" The group asked, incredulous.

"When it was slowly falling apart the other Grail reached out for mana that would've allowed it to regenerate itself. It couldn't survive without it since the Grail is a massive vessel that is an intricate network of Magic Circuits, a network that had been severed in far too many places to continue working. However, this Grail found a source of mana, a Magus to be exact. I believe you have met him before, yes?" The Grail explained.

"Wait, you can't possibly be saying…" Rin gasped.

"I am. The Dark Grail reached out to the one individual it knew would help it willingly. Kotomine was an extremely cooperative accomplice in this. After all, he had everything to gain and nothing to lose." The Grail continued.

"What could he possibly gain from having all his magic circuits being ripped out?" Rin asked.

"It's quite simple. The Grail, even with his circuits, couldn't repair its magic circuits to the point that would allow it to repair itself, so it opted for a far simpler option. It opted for a far simpler option. It saved Kotomine's life and used his magic circuits to slowly restore itself to its full power. This, in effect, turned Kotomine into the Dark Grail and he is at the same time the Kotomine you knew and the Dark Grail." The Grail explained.

"Ok, that's great and all but if Kotomine is the Dark Grail, why even bother summoning servants? Why not just use his limitless power to kill us and get whatever it is he wants?" Rin asked.

"Oh, trust me. He has certainly tried and he was quite persistent. Unfortunately for him, I've had centuries of experience with my powers while he has had mere days. I've been able to keep him contained up until now and nearly succeeded in destroying him but he had learned to use enough of his powers by that point to escape my grasp." The Grail explained.

"And so he summoned Servants to destroy you since that is the one being capable of controlling you?" Rin guessed.

"Yes, which brings me to why I need your help. I need you to destroy the Dark Grail since I cannot do it myself since we would simply cancel each other out given that we are copies of each other. I also cannot risk revealing myself where any of his servants could use their powers to destroy me." The Grail asked.

"But if what I did last time didn't do the trick, how are we supposed to destroy it for good this time?" Arturia asked.

"That is the simple part, the Dark Grail is still bound by the same rules as myself. It must grant any wish of the holder; even if that wish should be that it destroys itself. The plan is quite simple, a Servant must touch it when there is no one to oppose them." The Grail explained.

"That's great but I doubt any of those Servants are going to do that if we ask nicely." A voice complained from the edge of the room.

"Shirou! Are you ok?" Arturia asked in a worried tone.

"I'm fine, I hurt all over but I'll live." Shirou groaned.

"Well, looks like we're all here so I'll just outline the plan. Archer and Arturia will need to defeat all of the Dark Grail's servants and use their powers to wish for the Dark Grail to destroy itself." The Grail finished.

"You mean that you're going to…" Arturia started.

"Yes, I'm restoring your Servant powers. And you needn't worry about after the Dark Grail is destroyed; you won't be dragged back to your own time. You are simply being given the powers you had as a Servant, you aren't being turned into one and these powers will disappear after the Dark Grail has been dealt with." The Grail explained, noting the fear in Arturia's eyes.

"Additionally, I should warn you that the servants Kotomine is summoning are mostly from your time. Don't be surprised if you see a few familiar faces." The Grail continued.

"Familiar faces?" Arturia asked.

"Yes, I only know the identities of a few of the servants but you already know the Archer he has summoned. I do know the identities of these servants. Saber, as you may have guessed, is Mordred. Caster is Morgan le Fay. Lancer is The Black Knight. I will attempt to discover the identities of the others but you may have to figure them out on your own." The Grail revealed.

"Well, it's a start. But if the Dark Grail can stop time whenever it wishes, as I suspect it was behind the incident just now, what is to stop it from freezing us in place and then just destroying you that way?" Rin asked.

"I have to admit I was surprised by that move but I should be able to stop the Dark Grail from directly affecting you. Now if you'll excuse me, I should be going before my presence here comes to the attention of our enemies. I will be in touch if anything should come to light." The Grail said, before leaving.

"Well, it beginning to sound like the Grail War all over again, doesn't it?" Shirou said as the Grail left.

"Yeah, and that's what scares me. I don't doubt there will be more victims this time, Kotomine will no longer be bound by the Council of Mages rules against bringing the existence of Magi to the knowledge of the general public. We are on our own out here since the council is undoubtedly aware of the futility of stopping him now that he has the power of the Grail at his disposal." Rin noted, "But unless I miss my guess you should have more of your powers now than you did then, don't you Arturia?"

"Yes, generating my own mana should be no problem. Also I've regained all of my powers, including the ones that I had to do without due to my… irregular summoning." Arturia said in a tone that was all business.

"Well, that's a relief. Let's just hope Kotomine is unaware of that fact." Rin replied.

"The real question now is where are we supposed to find Kotomine? We really need to take care of him before he harms too many innocents." Shirou quietly said.

"No, Shirou. We need to wait, you're still not fully healed and we can't take any risks because I don't doubt that Kotomine is going to center his efforts on killing you and Arturia for revenge." Rin rebutted.

"That's nonsense. I'm not just going to sit here and let him kill more innocents if I can help it!" Shirou said.

With that said Shirou tried to get up but only managed to make it two steps before collapsing to the floor. Arturia ran over to him to see if he was okay and slowly hooked his arm over her shoulder and helped him back to his bed.

"I'm sorry, it seems I'm nothing but a burden to you." Shirou apologized.

"You could never be a burden. I seem to remember one time when I could barely walk and you carried me. It's about time I returned the favor." Arturia replied with a smile.

"I'm sorry, it seems all I ever do is make you worry. I'm sorry for being so useless." Shirou continued, unconvinced.

"Oh, Shirou. You don't understand do you? I love you and you are far from useless. What I said that day in Kotomine Church still holds true. You will now and always be my scabbard and nothing can ever change that." Arturia reassured him.

"Thanks, you always seem to know what to say. What did I ever do to deserve you?" Shirou asked as Arturia helped him down onto the mattress.

"Shirou, you are the most selfless person I know. If that isn't enough of a reason for me to love you than I don't know what is." Arturia answered.

At that time there was a large crash and the door was torn off its hinges and Shirou and Arturia were confronted by a person on a jet-black suit of armor.

"A Servant! Wait, where are the others?" Shirou gasped.

"Oh, you needn't worry about them interrupting us. They had a little accident you might say." A voice from within the armor revealed.

"Mordred!" Arturia growled, the malice evident in here eyes.

"Why hello mother!" Mordred replied.

************************************************************************

I know my updates have been a bit sporadic and that is unfortunately not anything I have any real control over. I end up writing as I have the inspiration, usually as a result of extreme boredom at work leading to me considering possible directions to take with this, and thus I can't really keep any real schedule. As always, helpful reviews are welcome and I do apologize for the short chapter but at least this way you needn't worry that I'm padding out the story to get to some predetermined length. Enjoy!


	5. Well, this is awkward

Well, this is awkward!

"Wait. Mother? I'm confused now." Shirou said, scratching his head.

"You mean you didn't tell him? Oh my my, what an oversight that turned out to be! I'm so sorry I ruined the surprise for you, Mother!" Mordred mockingly apologized, "I bet it'll be a shock when he finds out that you killed your own daughter. Oops I think I said too much. I did, didn't I?"

"You leave him out of this, you will deal with me!" Arturia raged.

"Oh, you mean like you left my poor dear Auntie Morgan out of it last time? The way you go through loved ones it's a miracle you've managed to keep this one for as long as you have." Mordred taunted, referring to Shirou.

"If you touch even a hair on his head, there will be Hell to pay! And trust me, I will see to it that I collect and quite gladly at that!" Arturia roared.

"And why should I? You killed my Aunt, the most important person in my life, so why shouldn't I make you pay in kind?" Mordred raged in response.

"Enough of this! Have at thee!" Arturia yelled, rushing forward.

They fought for a few minutes and found they were evenly matched and neither gained any ground.

"What's wrong, mother? You didn't have any problem killing me the first time, so why so much trouble this time?" Mordred taunted.

Arturia took advantage of the momentary opening to score a slash across Mordred's midsection. Mordred appeared to consider pressing on when there was a loud crash from the kitchen.

"It appears that your friends managed to recover from their little mishap. It appears now would be the time for me to make my exit. But before I do, allow me to leave you with a warning, Shirou. Don't you turn your back on her, especially since not even her own mother was safe from her murderous clutches." Mordred laughed as she leapt through the destroyed door.

"Arturia, is it true?" Shirou asked, accusingly.

"Yes, she is my daughter. Ashamed as I am to admit it. Everything she said was unfortunately true." Arturia admitted.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Shirou asked.

"I didn't think you would understand, that you would hate me." Arturia admitted, her eyes full of tears.

"Arturia, I'm listening. Please explain, I promise I'll listen." Shirou promised.

"But I don't even know where to start!" Arturia complained.

"Why don't you start from the beginning?" Shirou suggested.

"O-ok. My father was Uther Pendragon and my mother was the Lady Igraine of Cornwall. I was born after they had an affair and my mother died giving birth to me. Don't you understand, Shirou? I was a mistake! My own father didn't even want me! He pushed me off to the only person who would take me, Sir Hector." Arturia cried, collapsing in a pile of tears.

"Arturia, you are not a mistake. You are far from it, Arturia, what your father did is not your fault. Don't punish yourself for the sins of others. If you were truly a mistake then how is it you always manage to make me so happy without even trying?" Shirou asked, pulling Arturia's grieving from into his arms.

"Do you really mean that? Even knowing my terrible secret?" Arturia asked, hopeful.

"Every word, if that's your terrible secret, then perhaps it isn't so terrible after all?" Shirou reassured.

"Perhaps you're right, you don't hate me for hiding it?" Arturia asked.

"No, I can't imagine it was easy to live with it like you did." Shirou promised, "Please continue."

"I grew up under Sir Hector's care and when I came of age at 16 I pulled Caliburn out of the stone and became the King of Britain. I had been ruling for about a year when we received reports of a town being sacked by Saxon raiders. My Knights and I went to investigate the town and found it had been burned to ground with no survivors. No survivors save one, a little girl. I took pity on her, having lost her parents, and I adopted her and raised her like my own daughter." Arturia continued.

"So that's why she called you mother. Ok, I think I get it." Shirou responded.

"I had been ruling Camelot for quite some time and one of my knights brought the issue of my succession to my attention. I was asked to name an heir and I named Bedivere to succeed me. This was the decision that sealed my fate as at this time Mordred came in demanding that I name her as my heir. I refused to do so and she stormed out swearing she would have her birthright. She left, and as I learned later, to gather an army and got help from my half-sister Morgan le Fay." Arturia continued.

"Why would your own sister help in overthrowing your rule?" Shirou asked.

"She blamed me for her mother's death and also refused to acknowledge me as King due to the fact that I was not only illegitimate but also because I was a woman." Arturia explained, "So the two of them assembled an army and marched on Camelot itself and forced battle. I led my army against the rebels and just as it appeared we had taken the field Morgan and Mordred appeared and challenged me to Trial by Combat. It was a ruse and Morgan attempted to slay me right there with her magic. I then killed her and then turned to confront Mordred. We fought each other and I finally killed her but with her last breath she ran me through with her sword and left me with a fatal blow. Soon after Bedivere took me towards Camelot but I instead ordered her to lay me against a tree and return Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake, from whom I had received it, and I died soon after her return when I named her the King of Camelot." Arturia finished.

"So, she wasn't technically lying, she just wasn't telling the whole truth." Shirou mused.

"I'm so sorry! I was so afraid you'd hate me for all the things I've done and I didn't want to lose you of all people. Can you ever forgive me?" Arturia begged.

"There's nothing to forgive, I can only imagine how difficult it was even knowing that it had to be done. You had no choice in the matter, it's not your fault." Shirou comforted her.

"You really mean that?" And after a moment, "Please, can you just hold me?"

Shirou wrapped his arms around Arturia without a word and held her close as she sobbed onto his shoulder. At that time Rin walked into the room through the ruined door.

"I hope I'm not interrupting… I am, aren't I?" Rin remarked.

"Just a bit, what is it?" Shirou admitted.

"Well, it isn't horribly important but more importantly is she ok?" Rin asked, referring to Arturia.

"Well, she was forced to face some of the skeletons in her closet. I don't think she was completely prepared to deal with them." Shirou admitted.

"Ok, then who was that charming young lady who dropped the roof on us then?" Rin asked.

"That would be Mordred, my daughter." Arturia responded, her voice hardly a whisper.

"Uh, daughter?" Rin asked.

"Yes, my adopted daughter but still my daughter. It's a long story." Arturia expanded.

"And she's still pissed that you not only refused to give your throne to her but killed her to boot?" Rin asked.

"Yes, how did you…?" Arturia asked, shocked.

"I did some digging on the servants we know about and on you to see who exactly we're dealing with and that's what I came up with on her." Rin explained.

"What? You mean my secret isn't so secret, how am I supposed to face people outside or even show my face in public?" Arturia panicked.

"You mean besides the fact that every thinks King Arthur is a fairy tale and that he was a man?" Rin said, sarcastically.

"Well, I suppose you have a point. Hey, wait a minute, since when did you get so sarcastic?" Arturia asked.

"Since just now?" Rin responded, confused.

"Careful, Rin! Keep this up and you'll be just like Archer." Shirou joked, somewhat seriously.

"Why, you…" Rin raged.

"So, um exactly what is it you came in here to tell us?" Shirou asked, changing the subject.

"Well, I had Archer follow our friend Mordred and you might be interested to know that she headed straight for Kotomine church." Rin shared.

"Why do I smell a trap?" Shirou asked.

"Probably because it's a rather obvious one, I seriously doubt that Kotomine would choose there as his hideout. If he did he is either very foolhardy or very stupid since he has to know that's the first place we'd look." Rin agreed.

"So where do we go from here?" Shirou asked.

"Right now, we wait. Archer is going to poke around the church to see what he can turn up and until then we need to get you back up and about. We can't have you remaining like this since it'll leave you as a far too inviting target. Hold still." Rin ordered as she pulled out a few gems.

"What are you doing?" Shirou asked.

"I'm using the mana in these gems to heal you the rest of the way so you'll at least be able to run if not fight the next time we're attacked. You're body has mostly managed to heal itself rather quickly, probably a side effect from having Arturia's Scabbard inside you for so long. The mana in these gems will allow your body to heal itself the rest of the way." Rin explained.

With that said Rin placed the gems in a circle around where Shirou lay and started chanting. After a little bit Rin stopped chanting opened her eyes.

"That should do it. How are you feeling now?" Rin asked, her tone all business.

"Well, I feel a little better but there still remains the test, doesn't there?" Shirou responded.

Shirou, with Arturia supporting him, slowly made his way up from the bed and then made a few slow steps towards the door and speed up noticing that he had little trouble walking.

"I feel almost good as new. Thanks, Rin." Shirou commented.

"No need to thank me, just doing my job of keeping you alive." Rin responded, leaving unspoken the implication that she was doing what he wouldn't.

"What's our next move?" Shirou asked.

"Well, we head to the kitchen and Archer will be able to tell us exactly what we're going to be dealing with when we attack Kotomine Church." Rin responded.

"Wait, I thought we agreed that it was most likely a trap. So why even bother going?" Arturia asked.

"Yes, I did say that but we also can't ignore it completely. It is far too dangerous for us to leave Kotomine and his servants with a safe haven. We need to deal with it before he decides to strengthen its defenses." Rin explained.

As if on a cue Archer walked through the kitchen door and took the remaining empty seat and started sharing what he had learned.

"So far it appears that only Mordred is at Kotomine church as well as one other but I was unable to confirm it. The church has many more protections on it than the ones at Ryudo temple. The defenses on the church will not only drain the power of any servant that passes the boundaries of the church but will also trap them there. Needless to say, it would be suicide for us to try to enter the church. Our best option appears to be to try to lure Mordred out." Archer explained, "There is also something odd."

"Odd? What do you mean?" Rin asked.

"Well, I noticed that there almost appeared to be a second Mordred. There was a second servant there wearing an identical suit of armor to the one worn by Mordred. I believe that Kotomine is trying to confuse us." Archer said.

"Confuse us? As in how?" Shirou asked, confused.

"If you'll recall, one of the servants is The Black Knight who is the Lancer servant. Since we do not know his true identity, I think Kotomine is trying to keep us wondering whether the servant in black is the Saber or Lancer servant hoping we won't be able to tell the difference." Archer revealed.

"But we already know that we were attacked by Mordred, this plan of his failed, didn't it?" Shirou asked.

"We know that we were attacked by Mordred this time but what about the next time a knight in black attacks us, how are we going to know if it's Mordred or the real Black Knight?" Rin pointed out, "Arturia, can you tell us anything that might help us, since you have the most experience with these two?"

"Okay. As you may have noticed Mordred's main quality is hubris. She is easy to taunt, easy to fool and easy to trick. The Black Knight is a completely different story. The Knight takes his oath seriously. He will not attack someone who is unarmed nor will he fight anyone except in a duel. Once a duel starts finishing it is all that matters, he will not abandon it for any reason even if he has to violate his orders to do so. For example, when I fought him he took this to the point that he even offered his own tent to my squire to make sure the squire remained unharmed. In short, if a knight in black attempts to attack Shirou we can be pretty sure that we're fighting Mordred."

"Well, that does make things easier and I think we have a good plan now." Rin revealed.

"Wait, you aren't seriously considering attacking Kotomine church are you?" Shirou asked, worried.

"No, we aren't. We are going after Mordred." Rin stated.

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And there we are, I do hope you enjoyed it.


	6. Seek and Destroy

Seek and Destroy

"Wait, you just said attacking Kotomine Church was suicide. Have you lost your mind?" Shirou challenged.

"That is true but we're not going to attack Kotomine Church or more accurately we're not going to fight inside." Rin agreed.

"You mean lure her out and fight her there." Arturia realized.

"Exactly. Glad to see we're on the same page." Rin triumphed.

"Rin, aren't you forgetting something? How exactly do you propose to lure Mordred out? I'm going to be very surprised if she decides to attack two Magi and their servants, unprepared or not, in full daylight head on." Archer retorted, "She would have to be an idiot to make a mistake of that magnitude and we still have to find the bait that would make her want to do so."

"There must be some mistake, the bait is right in front of us." Rin said, looking right at Arturia and Shirou.

"WHAT!?" They cried in unison.

"I can't think of a better bait for our little trap. No offense Arturia but I think we can safely assume that Mordred hates your guts and just in case that isn't enough we can throw Shirou in for good measure since she has already stated that she wants to kill him." Rin responded deviously.

"Rin, I refuse to put Shirou in that kind of danger. The risk is far too high, especially this soon after recovering from ordinarily fatal injuries!" Arturia protested quite loudly.

"I'm sorry, Arturia but I have to go with Rin on this one. We won't have any guarantees that she'll come out and we need to tip the scales in our favor as much as we can. We can't leave her to her own devices and, if her summoner is any indication, she won't have any qualms about using humans to increase her powers." Shirou argued.

"Well, that's true but…" Arturia acquiesced.

"I think then we've settled that debate now we just need to decide how to deal with the church itself once we finish with Mordred." Rin said, moving on, "We need to figure out a way to make sure that the church is unusable to Kotomine as a safe haven. Any ideas?"

"I have one. Before I came here for the Holy Grail Wars my grandfather made me study the library at the Einzbern castle and I know exactly how we can accomplish this." Illya offered.

"I'm listening, do continue." Rin said, giving the floor to Illya.

"Well, in one of the books I studied there was this old spell that was typically used by Magi of old to protect their laboratories. Since the spell was designed to protect against Magi it may work in this case or at the very least make Kotomine reconsider whether it's worth the trouble of reclaiming the Church after we're done with it." Illya continued.

"Ok, but what exactly is this spell you speak of?" Rin prodded.

"Well, it works by essentially destabilizing all the magic energy that is sent into it. That said, I probably don't need to tell you that spell casting inside or at the area protected by the spell would be quite fruitless. This would make it impossible to perform any magic regardless of source, and so it was only used when the Magus was unable to protect the laboratory in person. Since it would dismantle mana and magical energy it would prevent servants from entering it, lest they be ripped apart, only Kotomine himself would be able to get rid of it." Illya explained.

"And it would be doubtful he would take that kind of risk in exposing himself to reclaim such a poor hiding place." Rin finished, "Ok, that should work, are you sure you'll be able to pull it off?"

"Did you forget who you are dealing with, I did manage to summon Hercules after all." Illya bragged.

"Ok, good point. I think we've got a good plan. Let's go." Rin announced.

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The group arrived at the church to find the surrounding area surprising quiet.

"Uh, Rin. Doesn't it seem to be a bit too quiet?" Shirou mused.

"Well, Mordred did take up residence and she doesn't strike me as a particularly social person." Rin said, half joking.

"You know what I mean. It seems far too quiet outside as well, don't you think?" Shirou elaborated.

"I know, I get the feeling that we're expected." Rin concluded.

"Greetings Saber." A figure in black armor intoned, "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Yes, it has." Arturia responded, all business.

"I see you haven't changed a bit." The figure remarked before looking behind Arturia, "Or have you? And who might this be?"

"Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't this an enemy servant? Why does it feel like we're about to be invited in for tea?" Archer asked sarcastically.

"You are correct on one point, I am a servant but I'm not your enemy. I'm not here because I chose to be; I was forced here against my will. Unfortunately that means I'm going to have fight you. My orders were to ambush you and be done with it but my honor as a Knight forbids me from doing so. Under normal circumstances I could be compelled to do so using a command seal but since I technically have no master I am no longer bound by those rules. Instead, I choose challenge you to a duel, Arturia." The Black Knight clarified, "And you needn't worry about him, I give you my word as a Knight no harm will come to him."

At that point there was a loud scream of rage as a second figure in black armor charged the group.

"YOU TRAITOR! I'LL HAVE YOUR HEAD FOR THIS! DIE!" Mordred screamed, charging the Black Knight.

The Black Knight merely gave an exasperated sigh as he parried Mordred's well-telegraphed attack. But before Mordred had a chance to recover he summoned a lance and impaled her sword arm through a nearby tree. He thrust with so much force that it went all the way through the tree, leaving Mordred effectively immobilized.

"YOU FIEND! I DEMAND THAT YOU FREE ME THIS INSTANT!" Mordred raged.

"Why? Unlike some people I don't merely pretend to follow the Knight's Code. Consider this insurance, don't worry, you'll be freed quite quickly should I fall and you'll be free to exact your revenge." The Black Knight assured her.

Mordred continued her struggled but was subsequently ignored by everyone and they focused their attention on the duel that was forming up between Arturia and the Black Knight.

The two summoned their respective weapons and circled each other looking for an opening they could take advantage. Suddenly, the Black Knight charged forward and attempted to pierce Arturia's heart but she deftly dodged. She ducked under the Knight's and delivered a slash to his unprotected side, drawing a groan of pain from him. This went back and forth for a few minutes with each one matching the other's successful strikes.

"Come on, surely this isn't all you have. You're more powerful than this and you know it. There's no one here, you can fight me with no fear of harming any innocents, I say to that myself." The Black Knight chided her.

Arturia said nothing but immediately increased the intensity of her attacks scoring a number of severe blows on the Black Knight.

"That's more like it, what say we turn up the heat?" The Knight asked before raising his voice to an ominous level.

_**Come Forth, Arondight! I have need of your aid!**_

_**Slayer of Dragons! Light of the Lake! Sword of the Broken Oath!**_

_**You are all of these and yet you are none!**_

_**I summon thee for battle has been joined and only by your light can it be won!**_

_**Unbreakable Light of the Lake! Let us be one!**_

At this there was a large rush of force, not unlike a strong wind when the sword in his hand grew and started to glow from within. At this everyone except Arturia gasped as the Black Knight's helm shattered before their eyes. With this Arturia followed suit, summoning Excalibur and holding it up in a defensive stance waiting to see what the Black Knight would do.

"ARONDIGHT!" The Knight screamed as he swung the sword towards Arturia.

"EXCALIBUR!" Arturia screamed, following suit.

The two beams of light streamed towards each other until they collided and paused for a moment until Excalibur's light started to force Arondight's back. It continued in this fashion and slowly started gathering speed until the light from Arondight's had been completely engulfed and careened towards the Knight. There was a blinding pillar of light as the Knight was stuck by the glowing mass. When the light dissipated the Knight stood as he was until his armor shatter forcing him to his knees.

"Lancelot!" Arturia cried, her voice full of concern.

Lancelot slowly fell to the ground as Arturia guided his head into her lap.

"I see. Even after so long, my blade is still no match for the Sword of the True King. Forgive me, my Queen. It seems once again I have failed to earn penitence for my sins against you." Lancelot whispered.

"Lancelot, you simply followed your heart. The fault is mine for failing to see it and instead causing you untold pain and anguish." Arturia pleaded.

"My Queen, you have truly changed, haven't you?" Lancelot asked.

"Yes, I have. Yet here you are unchanged from the day we parted ways." Arturia acknowledged.

"Is it because of the man over there? Have you finally accepted the truth? Have you given up on trying to change the result of the Selection of the King?" Lancelot asked.

"Yes, it is. He clearly saw what I had been to blind to see all these years. I truly had no need for the Grail for there was no mistake to correct. For the first time in my life, I am truly happy." Arturia revealed.

"That truly makes my heart glad. Perhaps now I can finally find that peace that has eluded me all these centuries. But before I go may I please meet the man who has finally allowed you to find happiness?" Lancelot asked.

Arturia granted his request and beckoned to Shirou who has been keeping his distance to allow Arturia to talk in privacy. Shirou took a seat next to Arturia and wrapped an arm around her.

"I see, so this is him. I understand now, he is truly a rare soul. It gives me untold comfort to see you gain the happiness you were forced to abandon in life." Lancelot smiled.

"Thank you for allowing my queen to find the peace that had so long eluded her in life. I can see why she loves you with all her soul now. Let no one accuse you of being undeserving of her, you are the same as her, thinking of others before yourself. It makes my heart glad to finally see my queen rewarded for her selflessness. Love her with all your heart and be happy, you two deserve no less." Lancelot whispered as tears of joy slid down his face.

"I will. Thank you, Lancelot." Shirou replied.

"My lady, what is your punishment for my transgressions? Please pronounce your punishment so that I can atone for my failures." Lancelot requested of Arturia.

"Very well. Your punishment is death." Arturia said with authority.

"Thank you, my Queen. I go now to my eternal rest and to Guinevere, who has been patiently waiting for me all this time. It would be wicked of me to make her wait any longer." Lancelot said peacefully.

"Rest in peace, my most loyal and faithful knight. May you finally be freed from your needless guilt." Arturia whispered.

"I will obey your final order, my Queen. May you never want for happiness ever again." Lancelot responded as he faded away to nothing.

Arturia sat there for a second and finally gave in to her sadness crying into Shirou's shoulder.

"Hey, assholes! Did you forget about me for some reason? I'm here to get my revenge now that traitorous knight isn't here to stop me." Mordred screamed.

At this Arturia forgot all about her sorrow and wrathfully stomped her way towards Mordred.

"Enough! I will not have my finest Knight spoke of in that manner! I will have your tongue for that, as well as your head." Arturia raged.

As she was about to close the distance a dark portal opened and a dark voice boomed forth.

"That's enough, Mordred! You are needed elsewhere! Leave them for now!" The voice said in a displeased tone.

"Shove off! You can't make me do anything, you lack the command seals to enforce my obedience." Mordred shot back.

"Perhaps not, but I don't recall saying anything about your obedience being necessary. You will come kicking and screaming if need be." The voice retorted.

At that point a dark hand emerged and grasped Mordred pulling her back into the portal against her will. Mordred made on final scream before the portal closed behind her.

"Don't think this is over. Mark my words, I will have my revenge!" Mordred threatened.

At that the portal closed leaving no trace that it has ever been there.

"Well, that's one servant down, only six to go. Let's get to work locking this place down. Archer, if you would retrieve Illya now that it's safe." Rin sighed.

Archer left without a word to do as Rin had asked.

"Are you going to be ok?" Shirou asked Arturia.

"Yes, I just wasn't expecting it to be him again. I'm just glad I was able to say I'm sorry and allow him to find peace at last." Arturia said wiping her eyes.

At that moment, Archer returned with Illya and disappeared into the church.

"We should probably leave now that she's casting the spell." Rin voiced.

Shirou and Arturia voiced their agreement by following Rin silently. After about ten minutes Illya and Archer emerged from the church.

"Is it done?" Rin asked.

"Yep, but we should probably test it anyway to be safe. If you would do the honors?" Illya replied.

Rin silently grabbed a wind gem from her pocket and charged it with mana and threw it at the church unleashing a gale of wind. The wind was released but immediately dissipated upon reaching the edge of the church.

"There that should do it. I think we can leave this place alone for a while." Illya said, satisfied.

"Good, let's go home. I'm hungry." Arturia complained.

"What is it with you and food?" Shirou asked in mock surprise.

"But I thought that was part of my charm." Arturia replied, playing along.

"Now, now kids. Play nice. We'll be home soon enough and you'll have all the food you could possibly want." Rin chided.

At that Arturia simply smiled and gave Shirou a kiss on the cheek, which he promptly returned before continuing down the road to the mansion.

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My apologies for the long wait for this chapter; I hope I made it worth the wait. A note about the Black Knight's identity: the Black Knight was the Berserker in the 4th Grail War and was subsequently defeated by Arturia where his identity was revealed to be that of Sir Lancelot of the Lake. Do please leave your thoughts and suggestions as long as they are constructive and not simply flaming the story.


	7. The Unexpected Twist

The Unexpected Twist

After finishing dinner the gang cleaned up the dishes and were about to discuss their next move.

"WHOA! Where did you come from!?" Shirou screamed, upon noticing their new visitor.

"Sorry, I didn't exactly have many options from where I was and chose the place I was most familiar with to escape to." The Grail apologized.

"Um, escape?" Arturia asked, her curiosity kicking in.

"Yes, unfortunately my plan to lay low isn't going to work. Kotomine managed to find me despite my best efforts. The only place that's going to be safe is here, unfortunately." The Grail elaborated.

"Won't that make this house a much more attractive target?" Rin cut in.

"Yes, it will but now that I don't need to worry about being found I can focus my efforts on making the house nigh-invincible." The Grail replied.

"I suppose there is a silver lining to this after all." Archer remarked.

"Look, I'm as thrilled about this as you, I don't like the fact that I'm putting lives in danger any more than you do. But the way I see it there is little in the way of choices. Let's just try to get this crisis over with as quickly as possible." The Grail conceded.

At that exact moment there was loud sound of something massive landing outside.

"What was that?" Arturia asked.

"I suspect that we are about to find out." Rin mused.

"Arturia Pendragon, I demand you come out of this pathetic fortress you've constructed for yourself before I become impatient and force you out!" A voice boomed.

"Oh no. It can't be…" Arturia panicked.

"You know who it is?" Rin asked, "Care to share?"

"It's hard to explain it would be better to show you. Follow me and it will become all too clear." Arturia promised as she walked outside.

The group followed her and walked outside where they were met with a completely unexpected and alarming sight.

"A FUCKING DRAGON! ARE YOU SERIOUS!?" Shirou screamed barely able to stop from fainting of shock.

"Yes, my boy. Has anyone ever told you that you have a talent for stating the obvious?" The voice replied, a sinister tone crept in.

"Arveia, whatever business you have, it is with me. What do you want?" Arturia demanded unfazed.

"I'm here for my children, who you so cruelly took from me. I demand you free my children immediately or prepare to watch your friends be slowly devoured as you watch." Arveia roared, her face mere inches from Arturia's.

"What are you talking about? Explain this madness!" Arturia demanded.

"You can't fool me, he told me everything. He told me how you were planning this from the beginning, about how you faked your own death. How you had your pet wizard send you to this time with my eggs in tow. You even had him use his magic to conceal what you did. A perfect plan with but a single flaw, you didn't plan on falling in love with this boy, did you?" Arveia taunted her.

"What are you talking about? Have you lost your mind? I upheld my end of our bargain!" Arturia complained.

"Sure you did! But don't worry, my dear! Even though you betrayed me and despite my reputation, I have standards. I'll make sure this is as painless as possible." Arveia promised.

At this she swiped a claw towards Arturia with lethal intent.

"Arturia, look out!" Shirou cried out as he pushed Arturia out of the way.

Shirou steeled himself for the lethal blow he was sure was coming. Instead Arveia opened her claws and snatched Shirou from in front of Arturia and flapped her wings. This sent everyone below her to the ground as she hovered a few feet above the ground.

"Humans are so amusingly predictable. Did you think I would actually be dumb enough to kill the only person who can tell me where my eggs are?" Arveia taunted the prone party.

"Arveia, you leave him alone! He has nothing to do with this!" Arturia screamed.

"Always the proper Queen, aren't we? In case you hadn't noticed you aren't in a position to demand anything. Don't worry, he's just insurance that you don't do anything rash, like say, destroy my eggs. Once I have my eggs back I'll happily give him back to you. You have my word that no harm will come to him as long as my eggs remain untouched." Arveia vowed as she flew off.

As Arveia faded from view, Arturia lost control of her knees and collapsed shuddering.

"This is all my fault! I should've done something! And now because of me Shirou will…" Arturia panicked.

"Aren't you forgetting something? Didn't she promise not to harm him, even if she is a habitual liar, I see little point in killing him if she thinks it will ruin her chances at getting her eggs back." Rin comforted her.

"I know but I just stood there as she took him away! What kind of monster am I to just abandon him?" Arturia cried.

"Abandon him? The way I see it you didn't have much choice, servant or not you'd still be hard pressed to be able to defeat a dragon, not to mention that you would have to protect him at the same time." The Grail added.

"I know but, hey, wait a minute! Where did she even come from? I thought the Grail could only summon human souls." Arturia challenged.

"Well, the truth is that it is theoretically possible to summon the souls of non-human heroes, but it is extremely difficult. In short, you'd have to insane to try to summon the soul of a hero that wasn't human to begin with but to summon a dragon is just this side of suicidal." The Grail.

"But I thought the Grail did the actual summoning allowing the summoner to only focus on the hero they wanted to summon." Rin questioned.

"That is indeed true but that's all the Grail does, the rest is up to the prospective master." The Grail clarified.

"Meaning that if you were to summon a Dragon, you'd have to deal with the issue of asserting command over it. Not an easy task given the strength of even the weakest Dragon, not to mention that the only class that can be used to summon famous beasts would have to be Berserker." Illya added.

"But I thought the Berserker class had to be mentally insane to be even considered for the class, she seemed rather sane to me." Arturia asked.

"That they do but you'll find that what is considered sane is less of a concrete term and exists more on a spectrum and that even the most sane person can slip into it. The only requirement that a Berserker needs is the capacity for irrational thought." The Grail continued.

"But she seemed rational, if a bit misguided, so why was she eligible for the Berserker class?" Arturia questioned.

"I see I'm not getting through, let me try another approach. Are you considering rescuing Shirou?" The Grail asked.

"Of course I am. I can't just leave him there." Arturia responded.

"Even though he is in no danger and that in attempting to rescue him you might die? Despite the fact that as you are, you are no match for a dragon?" The Grail needled.

"Well, yes." Arturia responded, a bit unsettled by the turn this conversation was taking.

"Can you give me a rational reason why you're even considering going toe to toe with Arveia?" The Grail.

"But I can't just leave him, if he stays where he is Arveia may have a change of heart and kill him anyway. I don't want to lose him." Arturia protested, a panicked tone slipping into her voice.

"Congratulations, you just qualified for the Berserker class." The Grail chuckled.

"What, but how?" Arturia asked, not entirely getting it.

"Think back about what you said, you admitted that you were going to fight Arveia even though you were aware that you would likely die in the attempt and leave Shirou in her claws. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with your decision; I'm simply saying that on a purely rational basis you can't support it. So the mere fact that you seriously considered going through with it proved your ability for irrational thought." The Grail finished.

"I think I get it but there's one thing that bothers me and I can't quite put my finger on it." Arturia conceded.

"In that case, might I ask a question? If no one ever attempted to summon a non-human hero before, how did Kotomine do it?" Rin asked.

"Actually that isn't entirely true, there was one attempt made. In the First Holy Grail War, there was a master who successfully summoned the legendary beast Grendel. I believe it was your ancient ancestor Von Einzbern who summoned him but was unable to assert control and thus was killed immediately upon the completion of the summoning ritual." The Grail argued, turning towards Illya.

"But there would have to be some sort of contact point in order to summon such a being, what could Kotomine have used to summon Arveia's soul?" Arturia pondered.

"Well it is true that you would need an artifact of some sort that was associated with the hero you want to summon. But I don't think that's what happened here. Do you remember that incident where time stopped for a while?" The Grail asked.

"Yeah, what about it?" Rin responded.

"What if it wasn't simply a spell to stop time but a spell to control it completely?" The Grail suggested.

"What are you getting at?" Rin and Arturia asked simultaneously.

"What if the spell was merely to act as an anchor point to return to while Kotomine went back in time? What if he didn't come back alone?" The Grail asked.

"Wait, you're telling us that Kotomine went back in time and physically brought Arveia back with him? How is that even possible?" Illya challenged.

"For a normal magus it would be out of the question to even attempt it, they would die before they even got close to activating the time anchor. But now that he is the Dark Grail, he would have nearly unlimited mana reserves. It would actually be quite simple, all he would need…" The Grail explored.

"All he would need some sort of assurance he wouldn't be noticed or stopped. He purposely tipped his hand by sending an enormous amount of magic at you in the hopes you would be too busy to notice his little jaunt through time." Rin finished for him.

"And it worked, I can't believe it, he pulled one over on me. Thankfully though, he can't assert direct control over her and can't force her to do his bidding." The Grail exclaimed.

"But isn't that what she is doing, she did kidnap Shirou after all. That strikes me as something that Kotomine would do short of killing him outright." Arturia argued, managing to keep the panic out of her voice this time.

"That, while true, ignores the fact that she won't turn him over to Kotomine. She believes she needs him as leverage to get her eggs back, after all." The Grail cut in.

"Then why she is even working for Kotomine in the first place? He doesn't have anything she needs." Rin retorted.

"And what if she believes he does? Let's suppose for the sake of argument that she does. Then she would do what he asked if she believed it would make him more inclined to help her. If we look at it from this direction then I think it is clear what happened. Kotomine used magic to make her believe that we have her eggs and that only by helping him can she get him back. However, I don't think she entirely trusts him despite his best efforts. I think she is going to try to get her eggs back herself to prevent a double-cross from Kotomine." Archer inserted himself into the conversation.

"That makes perfect sense, it would explain why she is helping Kotomine but at the same time is keeping him at arms length." Rin agreed.

"Well, now that we've got that dealt with, I think we can safely plan how we're going to get Shirou out." The Grail concluded.

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"You don't need to worry, I may be a dragon but I don't make a habit of eating of humans. Not unless they give me good reason to." Arveia promised.

"Why should I trust you? You tried to kill Arturia and you dragged me off to who knows where. And for what! So you can convince Arturia to give you something she doesn't have?" Shirou raged.

"Do you think I'm so easily fooled? She may be able to fool you into believing her little tale regarding my eggs but I'm not that naïve." Arveia retorted.

"You can't keep me here, I'm leaving." Shirou said as he got up to leave.

"Do you actually think you'll live long enough to regret leaving here?" Arveia asked simply.

"You and I both know you won't kill me, killing me would be rash since you seem to believe that my death would lead to the destruction of your precious eggs." Shirou retorted.

"That is true, but wouldn't you rather stay here with me? Forever?" Arveia asked in a sultry tone.

"Frankly, no." Shirou responded.

"Oh, this is why I love you humans so much, you are so amusingly complex. When you thought I was going to kill your beloved Arturia I decided to give your mind a little push to seal the deal. I might as well not have bothered as I immediately saw that there was no need since you were more than willing than to sacrifice yourself for her. And yet now when I tried to make you forget about her, there was nothing I could've done to make you turn on her. It is so deliciously contradictory that you can be both so vulnerable to suggestion and yet so impervious to it at seemingly random." Arveia chuckled.

Shirou remained silent at this merely taken back by the Dragon's calm response to his rejection of her advances.

"So if you're not going to kill me, why should I stay here instead of going back home?" Shirou asked.

"Isn't it obvious? Just because I won't kill you doesn't mean others will have the same courtesy. You are quite safe here but once you leave this lair that will all change. I believe we have a visitor, if you'll excuse me while I get rid of her." Arveia said as she crouched as if ready to pounce.

And pounce she did. At a speed belying her large size she pinned a dark figure to the ground under one of her enormous feet, her claws cutting off any chance for the figure to slid out from under her foot.

"Well, let's see who dropped in for tea, shall we?" Arveia taunted as she bit into the figure's black helm shattering it while leaving its bearers head miraculously untouched.

"Ah, Mordred. How nice of you to join us, I take it you're here for my world famous tea and biscuits?" Arveia jokingly asked, clearly taking full advantage of her captive audience.

"Let me go, you overgrown lizard! I'll have your head for this!" Mordred hissed.

"Oh my my, I see you haven't lost any of your world renowned table manners. Hmm, this situation seems quite familiar. Oh I know why, it seems you wanted my help to kill your dear mother. How is the old girl these days, is she well?" Arveia continued unfazed.

"Don't play dumb we both know you just came back from seeing her and didn't kill her like you were supposed to." Mordred spat back.

"Oh, that's right, how silly of me. I happen to like her, why would I kill her? You're a different story but I let you go since you were considerate enough to bring lunch last time. A pity you weren't as considerate this time." Arveia mockingly whined.

"You butchered my men!" Mordred screamed.

"See, glad to see we finally agreed on something." Arveia mocked.

"If you're going to kill me just do it and be done with it." Mordred fumed.

"Ah, tempting as your offer is, I have guests. Killing someone without asking their permission wouldn't be good manners would it? Shirou, what do you think? Think I should eat her, she doesn't look awfully appetizing but I'm in no position to be picky." Arveia asked as Shirou walked up.

"SHIROU! Let me up! I'll kill that bastard!" Mordred raged as she struggled in vain.

"Such language. Where did your manners go, didn't your mother ever teach you it's not nice to threaten guests?" Arveia taunted.

At this Mordred starting cursing Arveia even more heartily as she struggled in vain to escape the black dragon's vice-like grip.

"Oh, my. It appears that I may have struck a nerve. She is getting to be quite a handful, what do you think we should do with her. Should I kill her?" Arveia asked.

"No, it's not right." Shirou responded.

"Ah, why not? It's been ages since I've had this kind of entertainment." Arveia protested jokingly.

"Arturia would never forgive herself if someone else did it. She would feel that she had pushed her problems onto others. She needs to deal with Mordred herself, perhaps then she'll be finally able lay her ghosts to rest." Shirou explained.

"I knew you'd say something like that. Well, you heard the man, you get to see sunrise." Arveia said as she wrapped her claws around Mordred and lifted her up.

"Please make sure that your seatbelts are securely fastened and your tray tables are in the full upright locked position. We hope you have a pleasant flight and we thank you for choosing Arveia Airlines for your travel needs." Arveia said as she dropped Mordred.

At this she swung her gigantic mace-like tail and sent Mordred speeding out of the cave as if shot out of a canon.

"Hmm, it looks like she got some good airtime out of that one." Arveia joked.

"Uh, that isn't going to kill her is it?" Shirou asked.

"Don't be silly, she's a servant, it will take a lot more than that to kill her." Arveia reassured him.

"You say that as if you aren't one. If Kotomine brought you here, how are you not a servant?" Shirou asked.

"Now that is a long story, it's been ages since I've had company and I'd be more than happy to tell you that particular story. Would you like to hear it?" Arveia asked.

"Yes but there's something I've been meaning to ask you. I thought dragons were terribly powerful creatures who particularly enjoyed eating any human they came across and would hunt them for sport." Shirou mused.

"That was most certainly true for quite some time, at least until myself and some similarly rational minds realized the short-sightedness of this behavior. We realized that if we followed the example of our fellow dragons we would just die like they did. We may be dragons and immensely powerful ones at that, we can still be killed and so myself and a handful of other dragons decided to make a dietary change from humans to deer and the like. But unfortunately old fears die hard and so we were hunted like regular dragons until I was the only one of my kind left and I was not far from joining them when your beloved Arturia intervened." Arveia explained.

"Is this the bargain that you referred to earlier?" Shirou asked.

"It most certainly is. Would you like to hear the story?" Arveia asked.

"I would love to."

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There you have it. Please do leave your comments.


	8. The Game is Afoot, I think

The Game is Afoot, I Think

Arturia had been climbing the mountain all day and was breathing heavily both from the exertion and the lack of oxygen. So it was only natural what happened next.

"Save the Kingdom, they said. You're our only hope, they said. Our lives are in your hands, they said. I'm starting to think that they made this whole thing up and are having a laugh at my expense back at the hall. I will so make those bastards pay for this when I'm done with them that they'll live to regret it wishing they hadn't." Arturia grumbled.

"Oh my my, such language is unbefitting a lady, especially one of your stature." A voice announced, informing Arturia that she had reached her destination.

"WHAT!?" Arturia cried, shocked, "Uff, ouch that hurt."

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"You mean she tripped over a rock?" Shirou asked.

"Yes, she did. I could hardly believe it myself. My first visitor in years and she was literally floored by my first impression." Arveia joked.

At this the two laughed for quite some time until they regained composure.

"That is too funny, who would've the thought the famous King of Knights was such a klutz?" Shirou joked.

"I know, shall I continue?" Arveia agreed.

"Please."

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"You know, I've had plenty of people overwhelmed when first meeting me. But I must admit you're the first one to be this awed." A voice joked.

"If you're done making jokes at my expense perhaps you can tell me if you're the dragon who's been devouring the local townsfolk?" Arturia responded.

"Devour? That's not exactly how I would put it." The voice replied.

"So you admit that you're responsible?" Arturia pressed.

"Well, yes after a fashion." The voice admitted.

"What do you mean? Either you killed them or you didn't, which is it?" Arturia asked, quickly losing patience.

"I suppose whoever sent you neglected to mention that these townspeople weren't innocent parties in this." The voice retorted.

"What do you mean?" Arturia asked bemusedly.

"They didn't tell you? The townspeople I supposedly devoured were trying to kill me. You didn't honestly expect me to roll over and die, did you?" The voice defended.

"Well, no but what about the messages you left them. About how you would torch their homes if they didn't pay you tribute?" Arturia asked.

At this Arveia roared angrily.

"IS THAT ALL WE ARE TO YOU? OVERGROWN LIZARDS THAT CAN BE DISTRACTED WITH SHINY BAUBLES AND TRINKETS. I SUPPOSE YOU THINK THAT ALL WE DRAGONS CARE ABOUT ARE HOARDING WORTHLESS PLAYTHINGS! I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO INSULTED IN MY ENTIRE EXISTENCE AND TO THINK I ACTUALLY INTENDED TO LEAVE YOU HUMANS ALONE! OH THE NERVE!" Arveia bellowed as she stomped towards Arturia.

At this she unleashed a gout of flame that forced Arturia to duck but still singed your hair.

"But if you didn't demand tribute then what did you leave that message for?" Arturia asked, a bit shaken.

"I never asked for tribute, I only wanted to be left alone. But no, those stupid humans had to assume that I was after gold, jewels and female virgins! Female virgins? Please, I'm a woman, what the hell am I supposed to do with female virgins, have them clean? If I had them do that I would be sitting around all day with nothing to do and I hate that. I'd be so unbelievably bored especially now that those bloody Saxons finally decided to leave the area alone. But you wretched humans are too stupid to notice that simple fact. What did they think would happen when they finally managed to kill me?" Arveia raged, a bit more calmly this time.

"Wait, you mean you're the reason the Saxons left this area alone? I thought it was because there was nothing out here." Arturia reasoned.

"Nothing except a giant bone munching Dragon that gets really pissed off when you shoot arrows at it. Especially when they don't get it through their thick heads that arrows don't hurt me, they just make me ticked off enough to make you die quicker." Arveia fumed.

"So, you never actually ate anyone? You just defended yourself when attacked?" Arturia asked.

"Do you think we would still be talking if I did?" Arveia asked in return.

"Good point. So you just want to be left alone. I think I may be able to arrange that if you give a formal promise not to eat anyone." Arturia offered.

"I can promise not to eat anyone who doesn't try to kill me." Arveia countered.

"That'll have to suffice. If that is all I shall take my leave." Arturia finished.

"There is one last thing, can you promise that my children won't be harmed?" Arveia requested.

"Children?" Arturia asked.

"Yes, I just laid a clutch of eggs. They are the last of their kind and I'm worried for their safety and so I've been trying to hunt as little as I can to make sure some silly villager doesn't come in and kill them while I'm away." Arveia clarified.

"I'll see to it but you'll need to make sure they don't eat anyone arbitrarily or else even I won't be able to protect them." Arturia agreed.

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"And that was that, Arturia and I managed to work out an agreement." Arveia said, finishing her story.

"How did she manage to convince the townspeople to go along with it?" Shirou asked.

"I can't imagine it was easy but I was made to understand that she had some sort of sword that made her King of Britain. I'll never understand why they called her king when she was so clearly a woman and how a sword could've convinced everyone so easily." Arveia admitted.

"Not everyone can use magic to read minds like you can but as for the sword… I guess the best way to put it is that we humans are stupid like that." Shirou explained.

"It would appear so. Are you hungry? I can make food if you're hungry." Arveia offered.

"I would love some, I'm starving." Shirou accepted.

At this a tray of food appeared right in front of Shirou and he dug in.

"This is delicious, how did you make this?" Shirou asked.

"Oh, good. I was worried that I had some mistake since I had to work off people's minds and we both know how unreliable memories can be." Arveia explained.

"No, I mean how did you make the food appear like that. I didn't think magic let you do that." Shirou gasped.

"You mean you can't do that? I've been able to do it for as long as I can remember. I seem to remember Merlin saying something similar. Perhaps it's a special kind of magic only Dragons can perform? I don't really know since I never really had any parents to teach me magic, so I had to teach myself." Arveia continued.

"No parents? I see, you're like Arturia. No wonder you two got along so well." Shirou mused.

"She didn't have any parents, no wonder she was so depressed." Arveia inserted.

"Not exactly, her father abandoned her because he didn't want to bear the shame of having sired a daughter and not a son who could inherit the throne." Shirou corrected her.

"No wonder. I never met a human whose I mind I didn't enjoy exploring, at least not until I met her that day. I've never peered into such a tortured soul. I hated it, she had so much pain inside her and it was added onto on a daily basis." Arveia pined.

"Tortured? How so?" Shirou asked.

"I've never seen such a lonely soul. Nor have I seen a person who has felt so utterly alone and abandoned. It made me so angry to see what her father had done to her to abandon her like that. I couldn't believe that the bastard told her she was a mistake and that he regretted not killing her when she was born. And to think the bastard didn't even have the common decency to live long enough so I could kill him myself in the most painful way imaginable." Arveia raged.

"No wonder she wanted to redo the selection of the king. She felt that if nothing else she would at least make sure she did that one thing right." Shirou reasoned.

"To be honest, I'm not surprised that she did. The main reason she took that sword was to prove she wasn't a mistake and that she wasn't a failure. That was why it was so painful to look inside her mind, she was so twisted and miserable that it was like eating barbed wire. And to think that after all she sacrificed she still felt that she had failed. She was a fool." Arveia added.

"The first time I tried to tell her that she screamed at me saying, 'I thought you of all people would understand'. After that she looked at me like she hated me, I don't think I ever cried as hard as I did that night short of when she disappeared." Shirou confirmed.

"Disappeared?" Arveia asked, shocked.

"At the end of the last Grail War, we won the Grail but it had been so corrupted and would've unleashed so much misery that we instead decided to destroy it. After that she slowly started to return to her time but she told me she loved me before she left. I don't think being able to keep living was ever harder than that night when I thought I would never see her again." Shirou expanded.

"Well, I'm glad she found you. I always hated that she was so wrapped up in that sword and what it stood for. She was practically married to it and yet it gave her no joy or happiness, instead all she received from it was pain and misery. Yet despite all that she clung to it all the more, destroying herself in the process. But now I can see she lives for you and you alone. I'm glad she finally found someone who truly made her happy. Thank you, Shirou. Thanks to you it is no longer painful to look into her heart." Arveia said gratefully.

"Being with her is reward enough. I hated that she had sacrificed so much and wasn't rewarded for it, that kind of thing doesn't sit well with me." Shirou admitted.

"Me too. She truly loves you, even if she sometimes doesn't show it. Please remember that." Arveia finished.

"I know. But thank you for the reassurance." Shirou said.

"Arveia the Betrayer! I have come for you. Come forth and show yourself as I must speak with you!" An authoritative voice bellowed from the entrance of the cave.

"There is only one person I know that that could be. If you'll excuse me, it appears I am needed." Arveia excused herself.

Shirou nodded as Arveia moved towards the group at the entrance.

"Arturia, a pleasure as always. How are you this fine day?" Arveia asked.

"Dispense with the pleasantries. You know why I'm here." Arturia growled.

"Ah, yes. Did you bring my eggs?" Arveia asked.

"No, I'm here to demand that you release Shirou this instant or face the consequences!" Arturia glowered.

"I'm afraid I can't do that. I said I would only release him once you give back my eggs. I am a Dragon of my word, after all." Arveia countered.

"Then you leave me no choice, I'm afraid. Now we must fight since you refuse to do things the easy way." Arturia ended.

At this she leapt at Arveia's giant form and slashed away with Excalibur.

"Oh, please stop. That tickles." Arveia joked.

"What, but how is that possible? My sword should've been able to tear through those scales with no problem. No matter, I have ways to deal with this little problem." Arturia promised.

With this she drove her sword into the ground, kneeled and started chanting.

Knights of Ages Past, Knights of Kingdoms Lost

_**I Summon Thee to Fulfill thy Sacred and Holy Oath**_

_**You Who Went to Slumbers Long, Are Once Again Needed at Last**_

_**Come Forth, Knights of The Round Table to Victory and Defeat Both**_

At this she lifted her sword and slashed the air behind her where the very air seemed to split apart and the sounds of men in armor could be heard running through it. When the air sealed itself around the disturbance twelve armored Knights were kneeling in front of her.

"What are your orders, My Liege?" They asked in unison.

"Restrain her!" She simply ordered.

They immediately got up and surrounded the confused dragon and drove their swords into the ground. At that point a web of light coalesced above her and settled around her effectively immobilizing her. The Knight stood up at attention as Arturia approached.

"Arveia the Betrayer. By the Authority of my Crown and my right of Kingship, I hereby sentence you to death for the crime of treason. May God have mercy on your soul for I will not." Arturia rang out as she raised her sword to strike.

At this Shirou ran in front of Arveia and protected her with his body.

"Shirou, what do you think you are doing? She kidnapped and nearly tried to kill you." Arturia asked, shocked.

"She was only trying to protect her children. Is that so wrong?" Shirou asked.

"No, but when you hide behind it to justify evil acts, it's no excuse." Arturia retorted.

"She was tricked by Kotomine when he used magic to make her believe that you had her eggs." Shirou shot back.

"What are you saying, human? Do you think I'm some cheap conjurer who can be easily tricked into doing the bidding of anyone with a spell book?" Arveia raged.

"Will you quit it? I'm trying to save your life!" Shirou responded.

"Well, I don't need your help, so don't be stupid!" Arveia countered.

"Shirou, why can't you see it, she is too far gone to be saved. This is the only way, Shirou." Arturia argued.

"You can't know that for sure unless you've tried, can you?" Shirou said.

Arturia appeared to be torn between what she knew needed to be done and Shirou's request.

"Please." Shirou pleaded.

"Oh, Shirou. That is so unfair. You know I can't say no to you. Fine, we'll do it your way." Arturia finally relented, "Rin, can you do anything?"

"Let me have a look." Rin said walking up to a defiantly bound Arveia.

After a few minutes she looked up and shook her head.

"I'm sorry but I have no idea where to start. Kotomine was my teacher after all, he is more skilled than I at this kind of thing." Rin said, "Perhaps Illya may be able to do something but I can't."

"Speaking of which where is she?" Arturia asked.

"I believe she is still at home where we left her. Do you want me to go get her?" The Grail responded.

Arturia nodded and the Grail disappeared in a flash of light and returned a moment later with Illya in a similar fashion.

Illya walked up to Arveia and closed her eyes in concentration for a few minutes.

"Oh, this should be easy. I can't believe he got so sloppy, it's almost like he went of his way to make it more complicated. I think if I neutralize a few parts of the spell it should simply dissipate immediately. Hold on while I do this." Illya assured everyone.

A little time passed as Illya chanted a short phrase and finished a few minutes later.

"There that should do it." Illya said as she walked back, dusting off her hands.

"Arturia Pendragon, what is the meaning of this? First you steal my eggs and now you have this vile homunculus weave some sort of spell. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if she placed some curse on me." Arveia raged.

"Watch your tongue. I will not stand to have you talk about Illya in that manner. It was not her choice to be a homunculus. She is one of the sweetest little girls I have ever met." Arturia shot back.

"Save your speeches for someone who actually cares." Arveia spat.

"Illya, shouldn't something have happened?" Arturia asked.

"Just wait, it should be any minute now." Illya assured her, barely able to stop from shouting back at the abuse she was receiving.

"Oh, now you're discussing how much time I have left before that vile curse that wretched homunculus placed on me kills me. That is it! You have crossed the line! Once I get free I will see it to that you…" Arveia began.

At that exact moment a change seemed to come over Arveia as if awakening from a dream.

"Arturia, I seem to be yelling at you for some reason and I have no idea why." Arveia said, her voice softening.

Arturia and Illya exchanged a look. Illya flashed a smile that seemed to say 'wait for it'.

"Oh, I remember it seems you stole my eggs. Wait a minute, that isn't right. You're already dead and yet you're here somehow. Arturia, please tell me what is going on? I'm afraid I might have finally lost my mind." Arveia said in a panicky tone.

"It's alright. It appears that you're back to your old self. As for what happened, well it would probably be best if you remembered on your own." Arturia soothed her.

Arveia seemed to relax at this and was lost in thought as Arturia dismissed her noble phantasm. Finally, there was a look of realization in Arveia's eyes.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I can't believe I did that to you. I'm so sorry. Please forgive me for trying to kill you. My only excuse is that I was trying to save my children. I hope you'll be able to forgive and understand me when you have children of your own, someday." Arveia broke down.

"I think I understand to some extent and only hope I will have that chance. But can you please tell me what happened?" Arturia asked, her features softening.

"Let's see. I was in my lair after getting back from hunting. I was eating and preparing part of my kill so that when my eggs hatched they would not want for food. I remember a flash of light and there was this oddly dressed man. The only ordinary part of him was the crucifix around his neck, he waved his hand once and my eggs disappeared. I recall that I was about to attack him, and that's it next thing I remember is him telling me you had stolen my eggs. He agreed to help me get them back and we both came here. But how is that possible he is a mere human being, how could he have affected my mind like that?" Arveia explained, her face contorted in confusion.

"He is no mere human being, not anymore." Arturia said.

"You're right, HE'S JUST DINNER! I'M GOING TO KILL THAT BASTARD SO SLOWLY HIS CHILDREN WILL BE BORN MISSING LIMBS! I'M GOING TO GUT HIM, USE HIS INTESTINES AS ROPE TO SUSPEND HIM BY HIS FEET WHILE I SKIN HIM ALIVE! THEN I'M GOING TO ROAST HIM AND THEN AND ONLY THEN WILL I EAT HIM!" Arveia roared as the full picture dawned on her.

"I wouldn't suggest that. He is far more powerful than you can imagine." The Grail cut her off.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN? I'M A FUCKING DRAGON! WHAT COULD HE POSSIBLY DO THAT WOULD SERVE AS MORE THAN A MINOR HINDERANCE?" Arveia screamed, still not convinced.

"Arveia, please don't throw your life away. Please, as your friend, I implore you to listen to what he has to say before you make your decision." Arturia pleaded with her.

"Why should I? Every moment I delay increases the chance that he will do something to my eggs." Arveia countered angrily.

"That is true but can you please at least try to grasp the whole picture before you charge off to fight him?" Arturia asked.

"You promise that this isn't some trick? You promise that we'll retrieve my eggs after this?" Arveia said, relenting slightly.

"Yes, I promse that we will all help after this." Arturia assured her.

"Oh, all right. but I'm only agreeing to this since you're my friend. I'm trusting you that this isn't some trick or a trap of some sort." Arveia allowed cautiously.

"I understand your misgivings given what happened to you but please just play along for now." Arturia asked as Arveia nodded her agreement.

"Come we should head back to the mansion so we can discuss it at length." The Grail cut in.

"But won't she attract attention? It isn't like Dragons are a common sight around here." Shirou protested.

"That shouldn't be a problem." Arveia replied with a smile.

Shirou looked at her quizzically, not getting it. Arveia gave him a look that said, 'just watch'.

At this moment Arveia seemed to undergo a shrinking of sorts. The Black Dragon started to shrunk and contort slowly. Her claws retracted as her front feet developed fingers. Her back feet started to sprout toes and molded themselves in the shape of normal human feet. Her head slowly compacted and rounded out. Her scales were replaced with pink skin and from the top of head hair sprouted like thin vines. In all the process took a couple minutes. In the dragon's place stood a female teenager that was approximately 18 years old, with black hair, black eyes, wearing a school uniform with black shoes.

Everyone except Arturia and the Grail needed a moment to pick their collective jaws off the floor after the end of this transformation.

Arveia simply chuckled and said, "Now that I've slipped into something more comfortable, let's go."

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Please give me your thoughts on this chapter.


	9. Now what?

Now what?

"So you're telling me that this person who took my eggs created a corrupted version of the Holy Grail? But you said you destroyed it, how is he any real threat?" Arveia asked, a little lost.

"The problem is that we inadvertently gave this Dark Grail the means to survive by giving it a willing host. By killing Kotomine we ensured that he had nothing to lose and in so doing the Dark Grail was able to use his body as it's new host and rebuild itself." Arturia clarified.

"So you mean to tell me that you're trying to kill someone who not only refuses to stay dead but now is quite literally the most powerful magical artifact in existence?" Arveia asked.

"I'd say that's about the size of it, but he's also trying to kill off the only artifact that can stop him from committing mass-murder." The Grail added.

"This may seem like a silly question but exactly why would he want to do that?" Rin asked.

"In the last fight I had with him, he said something to the effect that he wanted to capture the last spark of humanity. Something about humans being the most beautiful right before they died." Shirou explained.

"That doesn't make any sense! He would end up killing himself too! Why the hell would he wish for that after going through all that trouble to come back to life?" Arveia challenged.

"Do I look like a mind reader to you? I never said it made sense, I just said that's what he told me." Shirou countered.

"Oh great! First some lunatic on a power trip steals my eggs and now I find out that his grasp on reality is tenuous at best. What next don't tell me let me guess. He's immortal to the point where you can cut off his head and he'll just walk it off." Arveia ranted.

"Not exactly but very close, only a servant can destroy him and that is by making a wish to that effect when there are no other servants to oppose them. So unfortunately, you can't kill him." The Grail amended.

"Wait, if she isn't a servant, then how did Kotomine bring her here? I thought the Grail could only summon the heroes spirits?" Rin asked.

"That would be true except there aren't any Magi calling on his power to direct it to that task." The Grail explained.

"You lost me." Rin said, stumped for the first time in her life.

"The Grail has a store of seven Miracles. Normally these Miracles would be used to copy the Heroic Spirit called. With me so far?" He asked.

Rin simply nodded for him to continue.

"Ok, with only two exceptions these Miracles have been used to copy the Spirit of Epic Heroes. What Kotomine did was simply use one of the seven miracles to move through time and bring Arveia back. Now-"

"Two exceptions? What would those exceptions be?" Arveia asked, suddenly interested.

"The first exception would be Arturia Pendragon since she made a contract to become a Heroic Spirit upon dying if she received the Holy Grail. She died before obtaining it, so she was physically summoned in the 4th and 5th Holy Grail Wars. This was because her contract was not fulfilled and it couldn't simply be rendered void and so she was summoned while she was still alive." The Grail explained.

"And the second?"

"The second was Emiya Shirou. He hadn't died yet or even made a contract yet but he was still summoned because in one timeline he did." The Grail concluded.

"WHAT!? YOU MEAN THAT SELF-DESTRUCTIVE LUNATIC DOESN'T EVEN GET TO REST IN PEACE? HE KEEPS BEING SUMMONED EVERY TIME THERE IS A HOLY GRAIL WAR?" Rin screamed while looking straight at Emiya.

At this Shirou backpedaled slightly so he was out of Rin's reach. Arturia simply shuffled awkwardly and tried to avoid Rin's gaze.

"You know which hero he is, don't you?" Rin growled.

Arturia was about to make something up but was stopped by Arveia.

"You might as well tell her, she'll figure it out eventually on her own anyway. It will be easier on her this way." Arveia prodded her.

Arturia appeared to relent, sighed and mumbled something.

"What was that, I couldn't hear you?" Rin asked.

"It's Archer." Arturia finally said.

"What!? You mean, Shirou and he are the same person!?" Rin shouted, not entirely convinced.

"But that's, that's impossible. How can there be two of them?" Rin asked as she stumbled back into a chair.

"It's not that impossible, after all they are from separate versions of history. It wouldn't be the first time it's happened, where one version gets summoned but the other does not." The Grail assured her.

"Why'd he do it? Please tell me, I'm afraid of the answer but I have to know." Rin asked, her voice barely a whisper.

"He did it for you, he made the contract to save your life. He knew what he was getting into but he did it anyway. I tried to talk him out of it but he didn't care, he was adamant and I'm not permitted to turn down a valid contract, so I took it." The Grail responded sadly.

At this Rin broke out into tears and started screaming. At this moment Archer returned from finding the eggs and walked in with a confused look on his face. Rin looked up and just stumbled towards him and grabbed him. Archer excused the both of them and slowly helped Rin out into her room.

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"What's wrong?" Archer asked, all traces of his normal sarcastic self were gone.

"They told me everything, about why you did it." Rin sobbed.

"Why I became an Epic Spirit, you mean?" Archer asked.

Rin simply nodded as she sobbed into Archer's chest.

"And you blame yourself? It's not your fault, I made that choice of my own free will." Archer comforted her.

"Yes, it is. If you had never met me or if I had been a little colder towards you, you would never of had a reason to make the sacrifices you did." Rin sobbed, "You did it for me, even though you hated it and wished you hadn't. You went back to try to stop yourself from making such a horrible mistake. All because of me, you were damned for eternity and it was entirely my fault."

At this Rin collapsed into even heavier sobbing and seemed about to shatter.

"Rin, you're starting to scare me. This is completely unlike you." Archer intoned.

"Shut up! Shut up, you giant idiot! You went and condemned yourself and for what? For me? I'm not worth it, trust me I know this more than anyone." Rin sobbed.

"But you are worth it, you are selling yourself far short. Did I hate it? Yes. Did it regret it? Yes but not why you think. I went back to stop myself but not because I thought I had made a mistake but to save you from the guilt of thinking you were to blame." Archer comforted Rin.

"You really mean that?"

"Yes, you were worth it and still are. I would make that trade in an instant if it was offered. But thanks to you I'm free."

"What do you mean?" Rin asked.

"You helped Shirou survive to be the last master to survive. Accordingly, he was given a wish and true to his nature he gave it up so that you would be happy. I doubt he's even aware of what he did nor do I suspect he even thought about it."

"That sounds like Shirou alright, but you aren't really free are you? Once you die won't you go back to the way you were?"

"You mean being a killbot that exists for the good of humanity? No, the Grail took the chance given when Shirou wished for you to be happy. The Grail reasoned that you wouldn't be happy with my eternal servitude and so took the chance it was given to consider my contract fulfilled."

"I really should thank him for everything but we both know he wouldn't accept my thanks." Rin finished.

"Since when has that ever stopped you, we both know you're too stubborn to let a little thing like that stop you." Archer jabbed.

"Watch it, buster. Don't think my sympathetic mood means you're safe from being made to sleep outside tonight." Rin growled.

"Sleep? I can't recall the last time I got a decent night of sleep ever since we started sleeping in the same bed." Archer countered.

"Ok, that's quite enough out of you. One more peep out of you and it'll be the last coherent sound you ever make." Rin threatened as her cheeks turned beet red.

Archer made a hasty retreat as he and Rin rejoined the others in the other room.

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"Do you think they're alright?" Shirou asked.

"I think so but it's to be expected especially after discovering that she was responsible for his agreeing to be a slave for the rest of existence." The Grail reasoned.

At this point Archer stumbled in with a lump on his head just ahead of Rin who was cracking her knuckles with a murderous look on her face.

"Uh, Rin?" Shirou asked cautiously.

"What?" Rin asked imperiously.

"I think what Shirou was about to ask is that you refrain from killing Archer until after he tells us where Arveia's eggs are." Arturia cut in.

"Fine, but don't you think you're off the hook for taking the opportunity to make fun of me while I was in a sympathetic mood. You are going to be serving me hand and foot for a month once we're finished with this to make up for it!" Rin compromised.

"Isn't that what he normally does?" Shirou asked Arturia.

"Don't question it, you know how Rin gets." Arturia responded.

"So, where are my eggs?" Arveia asked, breaking the ice.

"Kotomine took the eggs to a park that seems to serve as a memorial for some huge fire that occurred around 10 years ago. The eggs seemed unguarded but they had a large number of cloaking spells on them to hide their presence. I'm guessing Kotomine was depending on them to hide the eggs from us since he probably didn't want to attract attention to it by having a servant guard it." Archer shared.

"It seems kind of fishy to me but I don't think we have much of a choice. Once Kotomine finds out that Arveia here is free he'll probably destroy them or move them so he can hold them hostage." Rin reasoned.

"I don't like it either but you're right, let's go." Arturia agreed.

************************************************************************

The group walked cautiously around the park looking for the eggs when a man wearing glasses and a camera stopped Shirou.

"Excuse me, I'm a bit lost could you help me get to the aquarium?" The man asked looking a bit confused.

Shirou talked with the man for a few minutes giving him directions and the man folded up his map and made to leave.

"Oh, just one more thing before I go…" The man said.

At that exact moment the man extended a small blade in the gap where his right ring finger should have been and stabbed Shirou in the heart before anyone could react.

"The master gives his regards and says maybe you'll learn to be more careful about who you help in the next life. But you probably won't, not to worry, you'll have plenty of company." The man whispered in his ear.

At that exact moment the people walking in the park underwent a sudden transformation from normal humans to skeletons.

"Shirou!" Arturia screamed as Shirou collapsed to the ground.

Arturia barely managed to drag Shirou to where the group was before they were surrounded.

"What do we do?" Rin asked.

"What we can, we need those eggs. Archer, go get them once I carve a hole for you to get out then get back here with them." Arturia ordered.

Archer simply nodded as Arturia lifted her sword.

"EXCALIBUR!" She screamed as she brought down her sword, carving a hole that Archer promptly ran through.

"We can't hold out for long, like this. We should've brought Arveia with us, she would have had no problem with these guys." Rin complained.

"Too late for that now. We just need to hold out long enough for him to get back." Arturia responded as she barely managed to dodge a sword thrust.

The group desperately fought to keep from being overwhelmed but they were bleeding from numerous places by the time Archer returned.

"I'm back, now what?" Archer asked.

"I have an idea but I need you to buy me some time." The Grail answered.

"How much time?" Arturia asked.

"Not long, a minute at most." The Grail responded.

"I don't know if we can give you that much time, we're about to be overwhelmed as it is but I'll try." Arturia assured him.

"I need you guys to hold them back while I work." Arturia ordered.

"Work? On what?" Rin asked.

"There's no time just trust me." Arturia yelled.

Rin grumbled but didn't say anything and just started throwing more of her gems into the mass of skeletons. Arturia started chanting and the air seemed to grow lighter as she did so.

There exists a Kingdom untouched by time and the Sword

_**Unaffected by the wheels of Fate, yet within it lies the Fate of all**_

_**In this kingdom, there is no anger, no hate, no hunger, no pain**_

_**Within its borders one will find peace, happiness and hope**_

_**This kingdom has stood for eons and yet forever shall it live on**_

IT'S NAME IS AVALON!

At this a blue scabbard with gold lines on it appeared in the air in front of her.

"They're getting through, are you almost- What is that?" Rin asked looking back.

"This is my scabbard." Arturia replied simply, as she drew her sword poised to strike.

"ARE YOU CRAZY? YOU'RE GOING TO DESTROY THE SCABBARD?" Rin screamed.

"It shall all become clear in a moment." Arturia assured her.

At this she struck the scabbard with her sword and the scabbard shattered into fine dust before her eyes. The pieces of the scabbard moved as if being blown by the wind to surround the group. As the sphere expanded to it's full size the skeletons within its boundaries shattered where they stood and the ones outside continued to try to breach its defense.

"What just happened?" Rin asked, amazed.

"This is my true noble phantasm, Avalon. The scabbard can either be used to give me a form of invincibility for the duration of the battle or I can shatter it as I did to create a movable shield that no magic can touch. Just like no enemy has ever breached the gates of Avalon, so shall no magic touch this sphere. Not even the Five Sorceries are of any use against its power, the perfect shield." Arturia explained.

A robed figure emerged from the horde of static skeletons and started applauding.

"I would've expected no less from the King of Knights, sister." The figure sneered.

"Morgan, you were behind this? I could've guessed, this set up reeks of your touch." Arturia glowered.

"Too bad you weren't that wise before you came here as you could've saved your lover's life. But it's too late, he's as good as dead and all because you didn't see this trap before it was sprung." Morgan taunted.

"You and I both know that this was unnecessary. Justify it all you want but the only person responsible for his fate is you for dragging him into something he had nothing to do with." Arturia raged.

"Dragged him into this? Me? Who brought him here? Who was it that failed to protect him? We both know it was you that is the real villain. You couldn't protect Shirou from one little tourist, who's the guilty one now?" Morgan sneered.

"Your words ring as false as ever, necromancer." Arturia spat back.

"That is a bit harsh, don't you think? Really, these bones don't do anyone any good just lying around; I'm really more of a recycler than anything else. While we're at it I would like to put a statement of yours to the test. You said your shield was impenetrable, what would happen if the perfect sword were to meet the perfect shield?" Morgan asked.

"You're wasting your time, not even the Five Sorceries can touch Avalon's shield." Arturia taunted her.

"We shall see about that. A friend of mine lent me this sword in case this very event should occur. I present the sword Fragarach, which no armor can stop. Let's see if it lives up to its reputation." Morgan replied.

With this she thrust the sword and it shattered upon striking the sphere made by Avalon.

"This is no mere shield, that sword is a pathetic attempt at magic, it only seeks out gaps in armor. My Noble Phantasm is not so weak as to fall to such a disappointing trick." Arturia stated.

"The portal is ready, we should go." The Grail whispered in Arturia's ear.

"Until we meet again, sister." Arturia said as she stepped through the portal.

************************************************************************

"Does anyone want to tell me what the hell happened? You said it was safe and we walked right into a trap!" Arturia yelled, advancing on Archer.

"I said it appeared unguarded, I was as surprised as you were when we were ambushed. If I had to guess, Kotomine knew we were coming and set this trap." Archer retorted.

"Because of your little fuck up Shirou is…" Arturia screamed as her emotions got the best of her.

"Ahem. My eggs?" Arveia asked, clearing her throat in an over the top manner as she entered.

"You want your eggs? HAVE YOUR DAMN EGGS! I HOPE YOU CHOKE ON THEM! I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY, SHIROU IS DYING FOR THOSE BLOODY EGGS AND ALL YOU CARE ABOUT IS GETTING YOUR PAWS ON THEM!" Arturia screamed in outrage.

"I didn't realize-" Arveia started.

"I'M NOT DONE, SO JUST KEEP YOUR BLOODY MOUTH SHUT! NOW IF YOU'LL EXCUSE ME, I NEED TO JUSTIFY NOT KILLING YOU AND CORRECTING THE NOW GLARINGLY OBVIOUS MISTAKE OF LETTING YOU LIVE SINCE YOU HOLD OUR LIVES IN SO LITTLE REGARD!" Arturia finished.

Emotionally drained, Arturia started sobbing and stumbled over to where Shirou lay and hugged his body close to hers.

"I'm sorry. It may not be too late, may I have a look at him?" Arveia asked in apology.

Arturia solemnly nodded in agreement to her request and Arveia walked over to his body.

"I can't believe this! You did remove the scabbard from his body, right?" Arveia exclaimed.

"Of course I did. We wouldn't be having this conversation if I hadn't." Arturia whispered.

"What's wrong is that his wound should've killed him by now but it hasn't. In fact, if anything, it has started healing on it's own." Arveia explained.

"But how is that possible? We removed it, it should no longer be protecting him." Arturia gasped.

"Are you complaining? It seems someone upstairs really really likes you. Though I haven't the foggiest clue why this would be." Arveia finished, polling the room.

"Of course. The Scabbard is a powerful artifact, it's highly unlikely that it wouldn't have left some trace of its power even after being removed." Rin mused.

"That is quite a relief, but I get the feeling there's something you aren't telling me." Arturia stated.

"Well, I noticed that the last time he was injured like this he was mostly healed by this point. I'm guessing that while the scabbard is still protecting him it will take longer for him to heal than when it was inside him." Rin said.

"So, how long will he be out?" Arveia piped in.

"I'd guess he'd be out for the rest of today and all of tomorrow at the rate he's going." Rin said.

"Good for you, Arturia. You'll have him all to yourself, I'd take advantage of it if I were you." Arveia teased.

"As if. I'm not some love struck damsel like in those fairy tales with her head stuck in the clouds." Arturia raged, mostly forgetting her anger from earlier.

"Oh? And then what was that just now when you nearly lost it when you thought he was dead?" Arveia prodded.

"Oh, shut it. Shirou nearly died twice because of me and it was all due to my being unable to keep my emotions in check. I was so scared of losing him that it was affecting my performance in combat. I don't love him any less; I just need to keep my emotions in check if we're to make it through this. There will be plenty of time for emotions after all this is done but only if we survive." Arturia mused.

"Aren't we optimistic? We don't even know the identity of the man who stabbed Shirou, do we?" Arveia retorted.

"I believe that by the fact that we were ambushed immediately afterwards and we didn't notice he was a servant until then, I'd have to guess it was Assassin." Arturia revealed.

"Also, I think I know his identity." Arturia whispered.

************************************************************************


	10. Come on now, really?

Come on Now, Really?

"You know who it is?" Rin asked.

"Yes, in the 4th Grail War I fought against Assassin and his true identity was The Old Man of the Mountain of Persia. He was a rather dangerous opponent given his ability to manifest as every single one of his alternate identities simultaneously." Arturia elaborated.

"So you think this Assassin was this Old Man of the Mountain?" Rin asked.

"No, I don't. Did you notice anything odd about this Assassin?" Arturia prompted.

After a moment every shook their head.

"You mean to tell me that you didn't notice that his left ring finger was missing? Even when he proudly displayed his left hand for all of us to see?" Arturia asked, a bit flustered.

"Where are you going with this?" Rin asked.

"This Assassin is the man who first killed The Old Man of the Mountain and succeeded him." Arturia revealed.

"How do you know this?" Rin questioned her.

"Shortly before he faded away after his defeat I was assailed by visions from his life. One of them was of the man we encountered today." Arturia elaborated for everyone.

"So you think he's that man? And he's more powerful than the Assassin from that war?" Rin mused.

"Yes, I recognized the blade he used on Shirou as it is the exact blade he used to kill his own master, The Old Man of the Mountain. But there is one thing I don't understand." Arturia said.

"And what is that?" Archer asked interestedly.

"I can understand why The Old Man wanted the Grail, to have revenge against his former pupil. But from the glimpses I got of his past told me in no uncertain terms that even though he is an assassin, he only kills to better mankind. His belief was something along the lines of killing one to save a thousand. So I have no idea why he's obeying Kotomine when Kotomine plans to destroy the entire human race." Arturia puzzled out.

"Perhaps he simply doesn't know? Maybe he thinks, somehow, that all of us pose some threat to the world? What if Kotomine told him that we want to use his powers and that if allowed to do so we will kill innocents?" Archer replied.

"That would make a lot of sense. It is similar to what he did with me to get me to want to kill you guys." Arveia chimed in.

"This is all well and good but while one of our number is seriously injured, none of us is going anywhere. So why don't we take it easy for a days and relax for once. We all know that we haven't had a chance to do that in a long while. Let's do so while we can." Arturia said, finishing the discussion.

************************************************************************

After gently settling Shirou into his bed Arturia snuggled in beside him and was about to drift off to sleep when she noticed a disturbing development. Sometime between when she had gotten Shirou settled and when she had snuggled up next to him, in order to comfort him should he awaken, Illya had managed to attach herself to Shirou with the hope that her small form would go unnoticed snuggled up to Shirou. Not one to have her territory encroached upon, Arturia grabbed Illya who yelped in shock but managed to not awaken Shirou, no doubt due to the extent of his injuries.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" Illya complained.

"Young lady, you know full well where your bed is. Don't play the innocent child with me." Arturia glowered at her.

"Hey, you get him all to yourself. Why can't you share him?" Illya pouted.

Arturia blushed quite furiously at this before she continued.

"Well, um, uh…" She tried anyway but was far too flustered by Illya's question.

"You want me to say it? Fine! I love him! You better get used to the idea because he is mine and I will not share him with anyone." Arturia declared.

This seemed to silence Illya as her only response was to adopt a shocked expression before she started struggling against Arturia's vice grip.

"As for you, young lady. You can consider yourself grounded starting this very instant except for when I have need of your services." Arturia announced with a triumphant gleam as she stomped off towards Illya's room.

"You can't ground me. You aren't my mother." Illya argued.

"I'm the closest thing you've got unless you'd rather Fujimura-sensei adopted you. And I shouldn't have to remind you that you wouldn't be the first child I've raised." Arturia retorted.

"Yeah, because that turned out oh so well!" Illya countered.

"You know, I think just leaving it at a simple grounding is letting you off a bit too easy. Come on, let's visit Auntie Rin!" Arturia promised, noting with pleasure the look of sheer terror on Illya's face.

************************************************************************

Rin received a knock on her door and opened it to a rather interesting sight. Arturia had in her vice grip a platinum haired child who appeared to be under the impression she was about to be executed.

"Arturia! To what do I owe the pleasure of such a late night visit?" Rin asked, regaining her composure.

"You know that thing you do?" Arturia hinted.

"What thing?" Rin asked, feigning ignorance.

"You know that thing you do when Illya really gets on your nerves?" Arturia played along.

"I don't know what you are implying. That would be very wrong." Rin joked.

"Rin, just do your thing." Arturia growled.

"Oh, you mean this?" As Rin delivered a quick chop to the back of Illya's neck.

"Thank you, the reason I'm here is she crawled into Shirou's bed and I don't think a simple grounding will cut it." Arturia explained.

"She played the 'Lookie How Mordred Turned Out' card didn't she?" Rin guessed.

"How did you know?" Arturia asked in amazement.

"Female intuition." Rin stated simply.

"And mine tells me that you may have something planned for such a situation. It's also telling me that you might still want to get her back for what she put Archer through." Arturia continued.

"Boy, would I. I mean, uh, if you insist." Rin smirked as she rifled through her shelf of pills and potions.

Apparently finding the one she was looking for she grabbed a reddish pink pill from one of the bottles and popped it into Illya's mouth.

"What exactly will that do?" Arturia asked.

"I don't want to ruin the surprise but I assure you that you won't be disappointed by the results." Rin smiled.

Arturia decided the anticipation would make it much more enjoyable and bid Rin goodnight as she went to put Illya in her real bed.

After she finished her task Arturia quietly closed the door behind her and put her arms around Shirou and nuzzled the side of his head. She noticed with pleasure that he seemed to be sleeping much more peacefully with her next to him and she drifted off to sleep with a loving smile on her face at this fact.

************************************************************************

The next morning Arturia was awoken by the ear splitting screams of a very distraught Illya. Mercifully, Shirou somehow managed to stay asleep through the commotion.

"Can someone tell me exactly why I've been rudely awoken this early? You know that I don't do mornings, right?" Arturia complained as she shook off the remnants of her slumber.

"You, what the hell did you do to me? My magic is gone, why on earth did you have to go and steal it?" Illya accused her.

"Steal? Are you actually trying to say I stole your magic? What is it, like a jewelry box that you can just abscond with when no one is looking?" Arturia teased her.

At this Illya silently fumed as Rin stumbled into the room in her usual morning fashion.

"Come on now, really? Is it really necessary to make this much noise this early in the morning? Especially with an injured person in the house who really needs his rest?" Rin challenged the feuding pair.

"You! You're going to help me get my magic back!" Illya demanded.

"Not with that tone of voice I'm not. I think you're much more manageable without your magic anyway." Rin retorted with a smirk.

"Please! I'll do anything! Just give my magic back!" Illya begged.

"That's more like it! Let me have a look at you." Rin said as she examined Illya, "Oh my. It appears that spell you cast on the church may have caused you to lose your magic. You may never be able to use magic again."

"Is there anything you can do?" Illya said with a desperate look on her face.

"I can look into it but only if you behave yourself and you're nice to me and Arturia." Rin promised.

Illya promised she would and ran off to her room and was extremely quiet from then on.

"Was this what you were referring to earlier? Did she really lose her magic?" Arturia asked of Rin.

"No, I just gave her a little something. It just hid her magic circuits from her, not to worry, though. I have the pill that will undo it but it's not like we're in any danger so I'll probably hold onto it for a few days before I give it to her. After all, admit it, its kind of fun to see her dancing to my tune." Rin reassured her.

"Remind me not to get on your bad side, especially not at that time of the month." Arturia responded.

"I'd be more scared of you. Come on a woman who can throw magic against a woman who has an ungodly amount of magic resistance and can wield a sword with authority? That time of the month couldn't have been fun for Camelot." Rin shot back.

"You don't know the half of it. Do you know how hard it was to come up with excuses for my irritability on a monthly basis?" Arturia responded.

"I guess not. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to make breakfast and come up with some sort of explanation as to why Shirou is injured for when Fujinee comes over for her morning breakfast. You should get some rest, you look like you need it." Rin promised.

Arturia simply nodded and trudged off to her and Shirou's room and slid back into their bed and snuggled up to him and drifted off again.

************************************************************************

Rin had just finished putting breakfast on the table when she heard a familiar sound.

"GOOD MOOOORNING, SHIROU!" Fujinee yelled out.

Rin practically bolted out to the front door and immediately got to work.

"Fujimura-sensei, please keep your voice down. Shirou needs his rest." Rin implored her.

"What for? OH, DON'T TELL ME! I'LL SHOW HER TO HURT MY SHIROU!" Fujinee fumed as she stormed off.

"Well, shit." Rin complained as she followed Fujinee.

************************************************************************

Arturia was rudely awoken by the sensation of being dragged out of bed and off the floor by her foot.

"Young lady, you have some explaining to do." Fujinee fumed at her.

"So do you, you psycho. I am not your property so what makes you think you have the right to manhandle me like this." Arturia raged as she kicked Fujinee with her free foot.

Rin ran up just in time to see Fujinee sent flying through the open door and into the adjacent wall.

"What the hell did you do that for?" Arturia and Fujinee both screamed at each other.

It was at this exact moment that Shirou finally noticed the commotion and came out of his unconscious slumber.

"Hey, what's going on?" He asked quietly as he shifted upright.

They both looked up at him in shock while still not dropping the murderous glares they had.

"Will someone please just tell me what is going on?" Shirou asked more insistently.

"How should I know? I'm asleep one moment and the next thing I know I'm being attacked by this psycho." Arturia accused.

"Attacked? You're the one who not only attacked Shirou but you attacked me too. I don't know why he even puts up with you anymore if this is the way you treat me." Fujinee shot back.

It was at this moment that Arturia was nursing the back of her head and the puzzle seemed to solve itself.

"Fujinee, please tell me you didn't?" Shirou begged Fujinee.

"I didn't what?" Fujinee asked, slightly confused.

"That you did not just drag her out of bed and hold her up by her foot." Shirou asked, a little angrily.

"I did, why?" Fujinee asked.

"You colossal idiot. You did the one thing that pisses her off more than anything else. You know who else did that? You remember that old boyfriend of hers from England, you care to guess how he tried to propose to her?" Shirou asked, outraged.

"Grabbed her by her foot and dangled her upside down?" Fujinee guessed.

"Bingo. Now does it make sense?" Shirou confirmed.

"Oh, geez. I'm so sorry. I just got so carried away thinking you had hurt him that I just went off the deep end, I'm sorry." Fujinee apologized to Arturia.

"I owe you an apology as well. When you grabbed me like that I thought of him and just lost it." Arturia apologized in return.

"Am I to guess that he's responsible for Shirou's current injury?" Fujinee reasoned.

"In a way. It wasn't him but he was behind it." Arturia played along.

"You must really hate him. I've never been sent flying into a wall like that before in all my years of competitive Kendo.

"Seeing what he did to Shirou, can you really blame me?" Arturia replied.

"I suppose not. Shall we eat?" Fujinee answered.

Arturia and Rin both nodded and supported Shirou as he limped his way to the dining room. They had just finished breakfast when there was a loud crash at the front door and the door to the dining room was sent flying off its hinges.

Everyone looked up in surprise except for Fujinee who looked up in shock as if she had seen a ghost.

"Well, isn't this sweet? Brings a fucking tear to my eye just thinking about it. I'm almost sorry to disrupt it with a brutal quadruple murder." Mordred taunted as she burst in.

"Dear lord, not again. Didn't you learn your lesson last time you barged in here?" Archer shouted at her.

"What can I say? I'm a slow learner." Mordred retorted.

"I should think so. You know, there's a saying, maybe you've heard it? Don't meddle in the affairs of dragons for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup. Ring a bell?" Arveia threatened as she walked in.

"Not you again!" Mordred screamed.

"Yes, me. And I must admit you're becoming quite a nuisance." Arveia replied.

"I, uh, I'll just be going now." Mordred backtracked.

"I don't think so. You just interrupted breakfast and I haven't had a decent meal in ages. I think you'll do just nicely. You know I bet you taste delicious especially cooked well done." Arveia tormented her as she delivered a punch to her gut that sent her through the wall and into the yard.

"And it just occurred to me that I still haven't paid you back for the pain and suffering you inflicted on my dear friend Arturia. Not to worry, though. I'll be rectifying that little oversight rather quickly." Arveia taunted as she stomped towards Mordred with a deliberately intimidating stride.

It was at this exact moment that Mordred disappeared from the yard in a flash of light.

"Dammit. Every time I actually get to have some fun it gets cut short by some odd coincidence." Arveia complained.

"Sorry. I would've gotten rid of her sooner but I was just putting the finishing touches on that particular spell when she burst her way in." the Grail apologized.

"Ugh, fine. Let's get back to breakfast. I'm starving." Arveia replied.

************************************************************************

"Ok, just what is going on? Who the hell was that? And what the hell is a dragon doing at our dining table? I demand an explanation of what is going on!" Fujinee screamed in the other room.

"I'll be more than happy to explain. If you could just come with me and I'll explain everything." Arveia chimed as she offered her hand.

Fujinee grabbed her hand and promptly fell into a deep sleep.

"What exactly did you just do to her?" Arturia demanded of Arveia.

"I just put a sleep spell on her so that we can decide exactly what to do with her. In case you hadn't noticed she knows that I'm a dragon and it'll be a matter time before she figures the rest out. I don't know exactly what you told her but we need to figure something out and quick." Arveia explained.

"Well, we can't just wipe her memory, can we? Kotomine probably knows that Fujinee comes here on a daily basis and is probably going to target her now. In fact the worst thing we could do is wipe her memory at this point as it would leave her with no idea the kind of danger she is in." Rin reasoned out.

"Very well, then. Here goes nothing. I'm going to be surprised if she takes any of this very well." Arveia complained as she went to wake up Fujinee.

"I can already tell, this is going to be a long day." Archer complained.

************************************************************************


	11. Here We go Again!

Here we go again!

"It would've been nice of you to tell me that not only were you expecting company but that she had no idea about any of what is going on. Now before I go and wake her up are there any other surprises I should be aware of?" Arveia asked pointedly.

As luck would have it, Sakura chose that exact moment to show up. She was about to greet everyone when she stopped short.

"Good morn-" Sakura started, "Sempai, what is wrong with Fujimura-sensei?"

At this everyone looked at Arveia.

"What is everyone looking at me for? Oh, of course, I see how it is. Suddenly I'm the bad guy for putting her to sleep. I didn't exactly see you tripping over each other offering alternative solutions." Arveia complained.

"Who are you? And what are you doing in Emiya-sempai's house?" Sakura said fixing Arveia in an icy glare.

"Whoa whoa whoa. Why all the hostility? I'm a classmate of Shirou's." Arveia protested.

"Don't give me that. I can see through that disguise of yours and don't think I haven't noticed that you've been using magic on me this entire time." Sakura continued.

"I am at a loss for words. Who is this person? And why isn't my disguise working against her?" Arveia asked.

"She is my sister, actually. I'm guessing she has probably already figured most of what we're going to tell her." Rin clarified.

"Why didn't you think to mention that she was your sister?" Arveia asked.

"That would be because I was placed under extreme pressure from the Mage's Association to keep her true identity secret even from her. They tend to take these things seriously since they are adamant that only one member of a mage family is made aware of their lineage." Rin explained.

"So, what changed?" Arveia asked.

"Well, I can hardly be blamed that she discovered how to use magic on her own. I couldn't just let a magic user wander out on her own. Who knows what might happen?" Rin justified.

"You've been teaching her magic?" Arveia asked.

"Well, yes. I know what you're thinking but Magi Law is very clear on this point. If there is any chance that the security of Magi lore will be compromised its protection is paramount. Strangely enough nobody from the Association has made a stink about it despite the contradiction between these two rules." Rin answered.

"S-sis, why is there a Dragon sitting at our table?" Sakura asked, stumbling over the unfamiliar term of endearment.

"I guess now would be as good time as any to wake up Fujinee and explain everything. Arveia, if you would be so kind." Rin finished.

At this Arveia placed her hand on Fujinee and woke her up, at which point she spring up and immediately attacked Arveia.

"Shirou, run for it! I'll hold her off so you can escape before she has a chance to eat you." Fujinee called out.

"Oh for the love of Pete! Not this shit again! Is that all we are to you? Giant lizards with a hankering for the flesh of the innocent?" Arveia protested loudly.

At this the entire group burst out in laughter at the comical nature of the entire exchange.

"What are you all waiting for? Surely, you don't want to her to eat you, do you?" Fujinee protested loudly.

"Firstly, she's not that kind of Dragon. Secondly, don't call me Shirley." Arturia joked.

At this Fujinee relaxed somewhat and everyone explained to her what was going on. She seemed to take it rather well, almost too well.

"Oh, that makes sense. Except for one thing." Fujinee said rather calmly.

"Yes, what is it?" Rin asked.

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FREAKING MIND?" Fujinee yelled, sending the table spinning into the air, "Do you honestly expect me to believe that there is a such thing as magic? Not only that but that both Archer and Arturia there were created by magic?"

"That's not entirely true. We weren't so much created as we were called." Arturia elaborated.

"I have to admit, though. Having Arturia come out of a hole in the floor has got to be the best surprise I've ever had." Shirou added.

At this Arturia blushed and gave Shirou a peck on the cheek.

"That aside, you can't honestly expect me to believe that not only does magic exist but that you can perform it." Fujinee protested.

"And yet you didn't have much trouble believing that I was a Dragon. A creature that is not only supposedly a myth but also supposedly extinct." Arveia shot back.

"But that's…" Fujinee stalled.

"You did see me send our surprise guest through a wall with only my fist, right? Surely you're not suggesting that if I were a normal human I could send a person wearing full plate armor flying? A good 20 feet, into a solid wall and another 200 feet beyond that?" Arveia argued.

"Well, there's…" Fujinee protested.

"A perfectly logical explanation? Yes, there is. I'm a Dragon and I can use magic. The alternative is simply absurd, is it not? That a normal 18-year-old high school student can throw a suit of armor around like a toy? Aren't we forgetting about physics?" Arveia retorted.

"Ok, fine, I believe you. So, what now?" Fujinee relented.

"Well, unfortunately, you're going to have to stay here for now." Rin picked up.

"What? Why?" Fujinee protested.

"Well, unfortunately, now that our visitor has seen you, you've become a target and it would be very irresponsible of us to not protect you." Rin explained.

"While we're on the subject just who was she and why did she seem to know all of you intimately?" Fujinee asked.

"Well, you see the truth is… she's my daughter." Arturia admitted grudgingly.

"WHAT? DAUGHTER? JUST WHAT WERE YOU UP TO THAT LED TO THIS?" Fujinee screamed, all her sensibilities offended.

"It's not like that!" Arturia protested.

She then explained that Mordred was her adopted daughter.

"Wait, how were you even able to take care of her at your age? I'm having trouble believing that you would have the money to." Fujinee questioned.

Arturia looked questioningly at Shirou who simply nodded for her to continue with her explanation.

"Well, you see. I'm not entirely from this time originally. You may know me better as King Arthur." Arturia said quietly.

"Well, that would… WHAT!?" Fujinee did a double take.

"This is just getting ridiculous. First you tell me that magic is real and now you're telling me that not only was King Arthur was a woman but that she is sitting at my dinner table?" Fujinee protested.

"What's so hard to believe about it? Do you honestly think that we would make something like this up?" Shirou asked.

"You know, I just have to wonder. Are you sure this isn't just some elaborate prank?" Fujinee replied.

"If only it were, trust me. I wish it were only a prank and Shirou and I could just live in peace. I just want to be left alone for once in my life." Arturia started to cry, her shell starting to crack.

At this Shirou just grabbed her and held her in his arms.

"Oh, dear. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to doubt you, you just have to admit it's quite a bit to take in." Fujinee immediately apologized.

"We understand, but if you'll just allow the proposition to stand that she is indeed King Arthur you'll find it explains quite a bit." Rin jumped in.

"For example, it'll explain why exactly why King Arthur never had any children despite being married to Queen Guinevere for as long as 'he' was. It would go a long way to explain the affair between her and Lancelot." Rin added.

"It was my fault. I made her live a lie and she had no choice in the matter. I can't believe she put up with it for as long as she did. She undoubtedly felt cheated of so much, children least of all. I can understand why she did it, I probably would've done the same." Arturia wept.

"It's ok. It's not your fault. I think I understand, you were forced into a political marriage." Fujinee said, comforting Arturia, "I believe you. If for no other reason than I know you're not dumb enough to think I would believe such a ridiculous story."

"There's just one thing I should mention. None of what we said regarding magic can leave this room. It's strictly need to know and we're already taking a huge risk telling you all this. Technically, I was supposed to wipe your memory and send you home on your merry way. For obvious reasons we can't do that and it would've been horrible of us to." Rin concluded.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing that school is still closed down after that huge gas leak. Though, I'm guessing it wasn't gas leak since there was no good explanation for why it happened." Fujinee admitted.

"You would be right. Arveia, would you be so kind as to escort Fujimura-sensei to her house to pick up what she'll need since she'll probably be staying here for a while?" Rin asked.

"I'm perfectly capable of walking across town by myself. My grandfather is a legitimate businessman, after all*****." Fujinee protested.

"Yes, we are all aware of what Old Man Fujimura's chosen occupation is. I could be wrong but doesn't the fact that Legendary Heroes are walking around like its no big deal kinda screw with the natural order?" Archer cut in.

"I suppose you're right. You promise she won't eat me?" Fujinee asked worriedly.

"As Arturia pointed out before, I'm not that kind of Dragon. I'll be more than happy to explain why on the walk over." Arveia promised as she walked towards the door with Fujinee.

"Do you think they'll get along?" Arturia asked quietly.

"I can't imagine that meeting a dyed in the wool dragon came as any small shock. But you said it best; she's the kind of person who is trusting of other and yet exceedingly hard to fool. It wouldn't surprise me if they came back the best of friends. I mean she's practically adopted you, even if you didn't have the best of introductions." Shirou assured her.

"I suppose you're right." Arturia whispered.

"Are you ok? You seem to be disturbed by something. What is it?" Shirou asked, concerned.

"I don't know. I don't know what to do, I feel like everything is falling apart and I can't do anything to stop it. Like fate is playing some elaborately cruel trick on me. Pulled Caliburn from the stone and became King, country falls apart. Win the Holy Grail War twice, Grail becomes corrupted twice. Finally get my chance to make a wish and it's granted, Kotomine comes back from the grave. Not to mention the fact that you've nearly died twice in recent memory. It seems like fate is insistent that nothing I do should ever end well." Arturia pined.

"It's not your fault. You've always been too willing to accept the blame for things beyond your control. I know how you feel, you feel rundown, worn out. But aren't you forgetting something?" Shirou retorted.

"What is that?" Arturia asked quietly.

"I'm still here aren't I? If nothing else you've been able to protect me this whole time. And let's not forget that somehow your scabbard is still keeping me alive despite all evidence to the contrary. Doesn't that prove that fate isn't completely out to get you?" Shirou comforted her.

"Oh, Shirou. You truly are my scabbard, you always seem to know exactly what to say. I don't know what to say other than there is nothing I could ever do to deserve you and how wonderful you make me feel." Arturia blushed.

"If anything I'm the undeserving one, which just goes on to prove my point that someone is looking out for us." Shirou smiled back.

"Can you promise me something? Promise me you won't let anything happen to you. I just can't live without you, life would stop being worth it if you died." Arturia begged him.

"Anything for you." Shirou promised.

At this Arturia beamed and wrapped her arms around Shirou's neck and slowly drew herself closer to Shirou. She and Shirou came close to kissing each other but kept pulling back as if being served a delicious dessert and trying to decide where to begin. Finally Arturia leaned into Shirou and tentatively kissed him, liking what she tasted she pressed her lips further onto his to get more of it. Moaning in delight at the taste of each other's lips they then briefly wrestled their tongues around each other in an effort to taste more of the other. In the end they both got what they wanted and slipped their tongues into the other's mouth and delighted in exploring the entirety of it.

Desperate for more contact, Shirou wrapped Arturia in a tight embrace who, in turn, locked her legs behind the small of Shirou's back as they pulled the other as close as they could. They both pulled apart for air and were breathing heavily as if they had been running, despite this they soon continued to make out and moaned into the other's mouth. It soon became clear that neither of them wanted this to end anytime soon as it had been quite some time since they had been intimate like this. And end soon it did not as Arturia pushed Shirou on the floor and intensified the passion of her kissing as he did likewise.

************************************************************************

At this exact moment Fujinee and Arveia has just left her house with a few bags of clothes and some bags of grocery from the nearby store.

"So, I'm still a little confused. You're telling me that not only are dragons not extinct but that they actually never ate people to begin with?" Fujinee asked incredulous.

"Actually, that's not entirely true. Dragons are mostly extinct and as far as I know I'm the last of my kind. And it was only recently that some of my kind changed from eating humans to eating animals. It was actually the unwillingness of some dragons to make this change that led to the near extinction of our kind." Arveia clarified.

"So, exactly how did you and Arturia meet?" Fujinee asked.

"You see, the reason our kind was nearly exterminated was that despite our strength we do have our limits. The village near which I had made my lair had gotten it into their heads that the villagers that had been kidnapped by bandits, slavers or what have you had actually been eaten by me. So a few of them tried to kill me, they didn't fare so well and so eventually Arturia made her way to my lair intent on killing me." Arveia explained.

"What happened?" Fujinee asked.

"You have to ask? By virtue of my being here, you can probably guess that we made some sort of agreement. I agreed not to eat anyone and she agreed to smooth things out with the villagers. Little did I know was that this was only the start of my headaches." Arveia continued.

"What do you mean?" Fujinee was rather curious about this.

"Well, I don't know what Arturia told them but soon afterwards the villagers were practically begging me to take their treasure and female virgins. That's right, female virgins, that part of the tale was not made up. I'm a female dragon for pity's sake, if I didn't do some of the clean up around the lair I'd be bored out of my mind." Arveia complained.

"What did you do?" Fujinee asked.

"I finally gave up fighting with it and decided to play along with their wishes so they would leave me alone. It worked for a little while but this managed to backfire in spectacular fashion." Arveia added.

"How?" Fujinee prompted her.

"Well, I didn't have much use for treasure and the female virgins they sent me were nearly useless around the house. So I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone. I shared my knowledge of housekeeping and paid them for keeping things tidy around the lair with the treasure I got from the village. So after a month or two I sent them back on home with a rather sizable amount of gold and valuables. Soon, the position of 'sacrificial virgin' became the most popular one in the entire village. As it turned out that when I sent the first group home the treasure I gave them went to enrich their dowry. This and the fact that it was quickly noticed that they were masters around the house, well they were the most sought after women in the entire kingdom after word got out. This led to a mutually beneficial arrangement where the village would 'pay' me to educate their daughters in proper housekeeping and in return I sent them home with a sizable donation to their dowry." Arveia revealed.

"Seems like you did pretty well for yourself in the end." Fujinee said.

"I did but it still didn't make up for the fact that my mate was missing." Arveia complained sadly.

"Mate? What happened to him?" Fujinee asked.

"I don't know, he went hunting one day and never returned. I was crushed and had a hard time moving on but I didn't have just myself to worry about." Arveia stated.

"You mean the girls from the village, right?" Fujinee asked.

"There were them but I also had my children to worry about. They were all I had left of him and I wasn't about to let anything happen to them." Arveia said, entering a explanation of the chain of events that led her to meet Arturia again.

It was at this exact moment that they opened the door into the dining room of the Emiya mansion.

************************************************************************

Shirou and Arturia had completely lost all sense of time and thus were shocked by what happened next.

"Ha ha ha. That's… Oh my!" Arveia stopped short.

"Hey! What do you two think you're doing? Isn't it a bit soon to be working on giving me nieces and nephews?" Fujinee protested.

At this both Shirou and Arturia seemed to notice the two observers. This and the fact that they noticed their own state of disarray caused them to quickly restore their clothing to a decent standard as well as make them blush profusely.

Fujinee was about to continue her rant when Arveia put a restraining arm on her shoulder.

"I'm sure they weren't doing that, why don't we leave the two love birds alone? Surely you were young like that once. I know I was."

"Well, that's true but…" Fujinee sweat dropped at the inescapable logic.

"But what? What's the worse that could happen? Even if they were, I'm more than sure Shirou would take responsibility." Arveia said, fixing Shirou with a serious look.

"Oh, all right. I'm just going to get settled in." Fujinee surrendered walking off with Arveia.

"Um…" Arturia blushed.

"That was a little awkward." Shirou filled the silence.

Arturia didn't say anything.

"Shall we continue somewhere more private?" Shirou asked.

Arturia surprised herself by agreeing immediately with a seductive voice.

Shirou was about to get up and found himself held down by Arturia who begged him not to push himself.

"I'm feeling a lot better, besides how weak would I have to be not to be able to make it from here to the bedroom? You don't weigh _that_ much." Shirou protested.

Arturia was only left with a confused look, which Shirou took full advantage of. He picked her up in a bridal carry and was rewarded with a surprised squeak. Despite her initial shock she found she enjoyed it and quickly wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder.

Laying her down on the bed, "Shall we, my love?"

"I can hardly wait, my beloved." Arturia surprised herself in response.

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***** **If you know what I mean. If you're still confused just ask and I'll explain it.**

A/N: There is one of two ways I can go from here. I can just leave it to your imagination or I can write it out in explicit detail.

If you want me to leave it to your imagination just tell me Option A in your review or PM me to this effect

If you want me to write it out, tell me you prefer Option B in your review. You can also PM me and tell me.


	12. The Morning After

The Morning After

Arturia was the first to stir and was quick to notice two things. First she noticed that she was in an unfamiliar bed and the she was on a very comfortable surface. She would've simply shrugged it off went back to sleep if said surface hadn't suddenly shifted and let out a yawn.

"Good morning." Shirou cheerfully greeted her.

"Morning, my love." Arturia responded as she snuggled closer to him.

Shirou was about to continue when he noticed that made his face turn redder than Archer's coat.

"Ummm, uhhh… Why aren't you wearing any clothes!?" Shirou panicked.

"What do you… Why aren't you!?" Arturia responded in kind.

"Wait, we didn't…" Shirou said, afraid of the answer, "We did, didn't we?"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" Shirou and Arturia screamed as they both practically bolted for their clothes.

At this point in time Rin made an appearance.

"Hey, guys. What's with the racket? Can't you let a girl rest in peace?" Rin moaned sleepily.

"Hey, Arturia?" Shirou turned to Arturia.

"What is it?" Arturia now visibly calmed down.

"I just thought of something. Who made dinner last night?" Shirou asked.

"Rin, why?" Arturia saw where this was going.

"Didn't dinner taste a little funny to you?" Shirou asked.

"Now that you mention it, it did." Arturia confessed.

"RIN!!" They both yelled as she ran for her life.

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At this exact moment breakfast was being served and by some stroke of mercy neither Sakura nor Fujinee were present as they had just finished eat and went out shopping. It was at this moment that Shirou and Arturia's screams of outrage were heard and a sound of swords being swung was heard. This was followed by the sound of objects being smashed coming from the general direction of Rin's room. In fact it sounded like a war was being waged and from the sound of things Arturia and Shirou has managed to completely gut the entire part of the mansion that contained Rin's room.

"Weren't they just yelling your name just now? If you're here, who are they trying to kill?" Archer asked confused.

"Me. A little trick I learned from my dad's books. Never hurts to have a Plan B." Rin simply smiled.

"Aren't you worried about them smashing your lab in anger?" Archer asked, not getting it.

"Hey, if this last war ever taught me anything, it's this. Items are cheap, life isn't." Rin shrugged.

At this moment the ruse was discovered and the aforementioned pair stomped their way to the dining table.

"RIN!" They growled.

"Good morning! Care for breakfast?" Rin in mock innocence said.

"What the hell did you do to us?" Shirou demanded.

"Whatever could you mean?" Rin asked in mock surprise.

"Drop the act, you knave! You know full well what we mean! Whatever you gave me made me act like a common tavern wench! I've never acted so shamefully or lustfully in my entire life!" Arturia raged.

"Oh, don't be so naïve. I didn't make you do anything! I just gave you a little push, it couldn't have made you do anything you didn't want to do in the first place." Rin mollified them.

"So you admit that you did indeed give us something!" Arturia screamed.

"Do you see me trying to say otherwise? What's the big deal anyway? Are you trying to tell me you actually regret what happened?" Rin objected.

The two looked at each other and blushed somewhat but had to admit her point. But Arturia was not one to let Rin have her win.

"That's beside the point! You made us your guinea pigs!" Arturia yelled half-heartedly.

"Ok, I admit it was partly because I was so sick and tired of you guys being stuck at a kindergarten level." Rin allowed.

"Don't go pushing your standards on us!" Arturia yelled.

"So, what are you going to name it?" Rin joked.

"Why you little! You know what? If it's a boy, I'm naming it Berserker just to spite you!" Arturia promised before settling down for breakfast.

"Hey, Rin? Exactly where did the bed come from?" Shirou asked.

"Hey, I did it for you guys. It wouldn't have been as romantic on a mat now would it?" Rin protested.

"That's not what I meant. I meant how did it get in there in the first place?" Shirou shot back.

"You mean you don't like it? Don't look at me, it was Arveia who took care of that little detail." Rin sidestepped.

At this Arturia did a spit-take and rounded on Arveia.

"You mean you were in on this too? How could you?" Arturia asked.

"I meant to talk to you about that, Rin. You told me you just wanted to surprise them with a decent place to sleep since they were sleeping together." Arveia protested, not getting the double meaning inherent in her protest.

"See, you understood me perfectly. They were indeed sleeping together, by the way how was it?" Rin jabbed at Arturia.

"That is none of your business!" Arturia gasped, as she turned red.

"Don't you think you've hemmed them hard enough?" Arveia said coming to Arturia's rescue.

"But I was having so much fun! Oh, alright!" Rin protested until she saw the embarrassment on Arturia's face.

"Rin, what if I'm…" Arturia quietly trailed off.

"What? You mean pregnant?" Rin asked seriously.

Arturia simply nodded.

"Oh, you don't need to worry. Many women learn to embrace this parasite. They name it, dress it up in tiny clothes, arrange play dates with other parasites and manage to live healthy, normal lives." Rin joked in an attempt to cheer her up, "What are you worried about, it's not like Shirou's going to leave you if you are. He knows what you'd do to him if he tried."

Arturia laughed at this and seemed to perk up at this and reached out for Shirou who hugged her close as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"You do realize that the threat of violence, convincing as it is, isn't the only reason I would stick around if it turns out you are. I know you've been let down just about everyone you've trusted but I promise you I'm not going anywhere. So if that's what you're so scared of you have no need to worry." Shirou assured her.

"Well, I was a little scared of that but that's not what I'm afraid of. I know I'm a horrible mother and I just know any child of mine is just going to turn out like Mordred." Arturia confessed.

"I beg to disagree. You are anything but. While she may not show it Illya is very fond of you and yes she is a handful at times for all intents and purposes you could be considered her mother." Rin reassured her.

"Really?" Arturia asked, hopefully.

"Just you wait. She's just a little uncomfortable that someone in her life actually genuinely cares for her instead of just wanting her for her abilities." Rin promised.

"I hate to interrupt but haven't Sakura and Fujinee been gone an awfully long time to simply shop for lunch?" Archer butted in.

"You know, they have. They said they would only be half an hour and it's been much longer than that." Rin agreed.

At this the entire group agreed they should head out and look for them. They had just made it to the bridge in town when they were stopped by an ominous voice.

"Hold it right there! That's as far as you go!" The voice called out.

"Who's there?" Shirou asked.

"The man who is going to kill you for besmirching my daughter's honor!" The voice responded.

"Uther!" Arturia yelled.

With this Uther charged forward and attacked Arturia forcing from her feet and taking all her strength to keep him at bay.

"You will show your father proper respect!" Uther demanded.

"You are no father of mine! You threw me to the wolves rather because I was born a woman. What kind of man would do that to his own children?" Arturia challenged him.

"Not! Another! Word! Your insolence truly knows no bounds. First you stole my kingdom from its rightful ruler! Now, I find you with this peasant and it seems that he has stolen your chastity as well." He raged.

"You don't truly think that being born a man automatically makes one worthy of ruling a kingdom? You are truly naïve! Who are you to control my life? My heart, as well as my body, is mine to give to whom I will!" Arturia retorted.

At this point Uther found himself with a sword at this throat and had no choice but to back off.

"I don't know who you think you are but at this point I don't care. You are truly the worst scum that the human race has ever had the misfortune to produce. To top it all off you dare call yourself her father, you don't have the slightest clue what that word truly means do you? What kind of person, to say nothing of a father, abandons a child because they're ashamed of something beyond the child's control?" Shirou raged.

"Shirou, don't. He's my father, the fact that he was horrible doesn't change the fact that he's my responsibility." Arturia pleaded.

"You're always taking the blame for things that aren't your fault. How is it your fault that this… thing happened to be your biological father? You heard what he called me, didn't you? I think it's time he learn exactly who he's dealing with!" Shirou insisted.

"But…" Arturia stalled.

"Besides he took Sakura and Fujinee hostage in an attempt to draw me out here and kill me. No one uses people as bait and gets away with it! No use hiding it anymore, you got what you wanted, let them go." Shirou continued.

"Oh no no! That would be too easy since if I just let them go you could just try to find a way to escape and that won't do. No, you're going to have to kill me and you'll find that's an impossible task for a peasant." Uther admitted.

"See? Besides I've learned a few tricks while you were gone. I'll be just fine." Shirou assured her.

Arturia finally just nodded and stepped back.

"I'm going to enjoy this! Try not to scream too much, otherwise I might have to drag it out." Uther sneered.

With this he charged only to find he had been parried and what he thought would be an easy kill was anything but. He quickly recovered to find the so-called "peasant" had somehow acquired a pair of swords.

"Well, aren't we full of surprises? Let's see if you're beginners luck holds out."

He attacked again and not only found himself parried but that Shirou was no longer where he had been a second ago. Before he had a chance to rush Shirou he found Shirou speeding towards him in a deadly pirouette and it took all the skill he had to avoid the series of deadly blows.

Despite this he had been wounded in the side, the shoulder, the leg and on the cheek. Shirou was not done just yet and managed to unleash even more blows on his surprised opponent who was unable to block them due to the blinding speed with which they were delivered.

"Well, boy! It seems I underestimated you, it seems a shame to use this but you leave me with no other choice." Uther yelled out as he impaled his sword in the ground.

The resulting shockwave forced Shirou from his feet and left him dazed while Uther continued.

"_**Enemy at the Gates!**_" He cried out.

At this Uther vanished and a giant gate appeared and slowly was lifted by an unseen force. As soon as the gate has finished opening Uther reappeared this time riding a warhorse. Without a single word Uther charged Shirou trampling him underfoot with surprising speed. But this was not all as the gate had not vanished and out from it streamed a seemingly endless supply of armored soldiers.

"You see, my Noble Phantasm is an endless flood of soldiers. Much like my horse, all enemies are eventually trampled underfoot by the overwhelming numbers I can command." Uther gloated.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Shirou whispered.

I am the bone of my sword,

_**Steel is my body and fire is my blood.**_

_**I have created over a thousand blades.**_

_**Unaware of loss. Nor aware of gain.**_

_**Withstood pain to create many weapons.**_

_**Waiting for one's arrival.**_

_**I have no regrets, this is the only path.**_

_**My entire life has been Unlimited Blade Works.**_

With this Uther and Shirou were engulfed in a flash of light. In its place was a field of blades set against a series of gears while Uther's gate still began pouring out soldier who suddenly hesitated at the sudden change of scenery.

"What good will this do, boy? No matter how many blades you have you are still one man, this will change nothing." Uther scoffed.

"Oh? You have failed to recognize the true horror of this place for you see, these are no ordinary blades. Each one of these blades is a legendary sword of some fashion, I'm sure you'll recognize this." Shirou said picking up Excalibur.

"That's…" Uther said in shock.

"You catch on quick." Shirou remarked as he flung it into the horde of soldiers where it exploded on contact.

"How could you have possibly gotten that sword? That's not possible!" Uther protested.

"It seems I have to explain it to you. You see my skill is not simply in creating swords out of thin air. It is in recreating certain swords in perfect detail. And this place simply enhances my ability to do so. You thought you were leading your soldiers to victory, all you've done is lead them into a blood bath." Shirou taunted him.

At this Shirou picked up swords one after the other and threw them into the growing throng of soldiers. Finally Shirou picked up a sword and threw it at the gate itself causing it to shatter and the soldiers to disappear.

With this done the Reality Marble also shatter leaving Uther and Shirou face as they had been before. Uther realizing he was outmatched made a final attempt at victory by grabbing Arturia.

"If you love her so much then you will do as I say or I will slit her throat!" Uther threatened hold his sword to her throat.

"No, you won't." Shirou said ominously.

"You think I won't do it! Try me!" Uther desperately tried in an attempt to prolong his life.

"I think you would. I just won't give you the chance." Shirou said as he snapped.

"How do you think you're…"

At this exact moment Uther was impaled through the chest and collapsed and stared in shock when he found himself impaled by a red spear.

"But how? That's impossible, it should've killed her too." Uther protested.

"This particular spear is different, you'll find. The weapon I used on you is called Gae Bolg and it has an annoying tendency to avoid any obstacles it finds on the way to the targets heart. Now if you'll excuse me I have two hostages to find." Shirou explained.

With that he strode off to look for Sakura and Fujinee. After this Arturia walked up to deliver the finishing blow.

"I suppose I should also tell you that I'm carrying that 'peasant's' child." Arturia whispered in his ear to her delight and his horror.

"Has anyone told you that you can have something of a mean streak at times?" Arveia remarked.

"You mean to tell me that he didn't deserve it after what he put me through?" Arturia replied.

"Well, no but telling him, even though you aren't even sure, that you were carrying the child of the man who killed him. Isn't that a bit out of character for you?" Arveia replied.

"Well, a bit. I suppose. I never did get the chance to get back at him before, so I took the chance given to me." Arturia admitted.

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While everyone else was looking for where Sakura and Fujinee had been held captive Uther was slowly bleeding to death.

"No no no! We can't have you dying painlessly now. You have a lifetime of pain and suffering to suffer for. I have to admit I've been looking forward to this!" Arveia threatened.

To his continued horror Uther watched the teenager before his eyes turn into a female black dragon. He begged and pleaded for mercy from her to no avail.

"I'm afraid I can't do that. I have a reputation to maintain, after all." Arveia intoned.

Soon after this Uther's screams of suffering rang out until a sickening crunch silenced them after which Arveia ate his mangled corpse with one bite.

"You know, the one time I get a decent meal and I forgot the seasoning. I must be losing my touch." Arveia complained.

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I hope you liked this, I was a bit unclear on exactly how Uther should act but I got the general impression he was an ass given that he disowned his daughter literally just for being female. Great guy, huh?

Read and Review please.


	13. Descent Into Darkness

Descent into Darkness

Shirou and Arturia had been searching for the better part of half an hour when Arturia realized what had been bothering her this whole time.

"Something hasn't been sitting quite right with me. Didn't Uther seem a bit weak to you?" Arturia asked Rin.

"You're right, there's no way he could've overpowered Sakura on his own, which could mean…" Rin trailed off.

"That this whole thing was nothing more than a distraction. Oh no! The mansion, I'd bet anything that's where they are headed." Arveia panicked, grasping the implications.

"Arveia, go! We'll meet you there!" Arturia yelled.

At this Arveia quickly changed shape and fly off in the direction of the mansion. The rest of the group was about to follow when Arturia suddenly tensed up.

"I don't think we're alone anymore." Arturia warned.

"How right you are! And now that troublesome dragon is out of the way we can easily deal with you." Morgan Le Fay chuckled as she revealed herself.

"Uh, we?" Arturia asked.

"Naturally I wouldn't be stupid enough to face you alone. Oh boys!" Morgan called out.

Suddenly, Shirou found himself with three vastly different swords pointing at him. At the sound of the swords being drawn Arturia turned her head to find the Giglamesh, Assassin and Mordred all had swords trained on Shirou.

"Morgan! What is the meaning of this!? He has nothing to do with this, so why bring him into it?" Arturia raged.

"Well, considering you have a certain… fondness for the boy, I thought it prudent to have insurance against you fleeing your punishment yet again." Morgan leered.

"Do you think so little of me that I would flee an honest duel?" Arturia retorted.

"Since when have I ever been anything that could be confused with honest?" Morgan sneered.

"What do you…" Arturia started…

But at that exact moment Morgan flung a bolt of lightning straight at Arturia. It would've surely killed her on the spot if she had not been quick to bring her sword up to absorb the attack. After this the fight began in earnest. Fatal strikes were deflected by fireballs, spells batted aside by sword strokes and shields were cut through almost as quickly as they were erected. It seemed that neither side would gain an edge and would simply keep on fighting until both of them collapsed of exhaustion. But at this exact moment Morgan reached into her robes and pulled out what appeared to be an ordinary stick. If someone had the time and the inclination to examine it further they would've noticed that its surface was spider-webbed by faintly glowing runes. But there was no time for this as Morgan instantly shattered it and a rumbling came from underneath.

The reason for this rumbling soon became clear as from the cracks that formed in the ground came a small horde of skeletons.

"More skeletons? Is this the best you could come up with? It'll take far more than this to stop me." Arturia taunted.

At least she would have been if Morgan and Shirou had not disappeared along with her accomplices. Cursing loudly Arturia jumped off the ground, landed on a nearby roof and followed Morgan's trail along the rooftops. She soon sensed that she had stumbled into a trap and was barely able to bring  
Avalon up in time to defend her. As soon as she did Avalon absorbed a massive stream of Mana and shattered.

"That seems to have done the trick, I can't let you have your trump card. It just wouldn't do for you to be immune to all my spells, would it?" Morgan taunted as she stepped out onto the street in front of where Arturia had landed.

"What did you-?" Arturia began.

"Do? Merely overwhelmed Avalon's defensive capability. Avalon is truly formidable but it's true potential can only be fully realized when it is released. I merely attacked Avalon while it was still in it's sealed state since it's power to absorb and redirect mana is severely restricted in that state. I imagine it'll be at least a few hours before it can piece itself back together. More than enough time to deal with you." Morgan explained.

As soon as she finished speaking she started chanting and Arturia attempted to stop her but found herself thrown back by a sphere of highly concentrated mana. She slowly broke her way through with Excalibur but it was too late. Morgan quickly took the glowing sphere that had formed in her hand and slammed it into the ground. From this sphere came a multitude of streams of what appeared to be pure darkness and it all was heading towards Arturia. It took everything Arturia had to avoid them and she barely succeeded. But in this time Morgan started chanting yet another spell.

Oh, Servant of Ages Beyond Remembering

_**Oh Slave of Burning Embers**_

_**Your Master Demands Your Aid**_

Answer My Call or Meet My Blade!

At this exact moment both Archer and Rin had finally caught up with Arturia and found Morgan Le Fay writhing in agony in a heap on the ground, helpless before Arturia.

"What, why? Why does he refuse the call?" Morgan screamed.

"Well, I was just going to have off with your head but now I'm genuinely interested. Who is it you were trying to call forth, dear sister?" Arturia asked with a sarcastic sneer.

"You blind fool, you have no idea of the power I am capable of controlling and you dare mock me? She who can command the oldest and most powerful beast magic has ever known? Master of Arvleg the Accursed?" Morgan spat out arrogantly.

"This is rich, all that power and you don't realize what you just tried to do, do you? You tried to bring a dragon through time? Did you not even stop to think why time travel was forbidden? You're lucky you didn't die in the attempt." Rin cut in.

Morgan attempted to shoot back a retort but was cut short by another wave of immense pain.

"It seems you are doomed regardless. I shall bring an end to your suffering, though it is more than you deserve." Arturia said as she lifted her sword.

"Fool, I may be as good as dead but my death will not come without a price. Bring him out!" Morgan ordered.

At this Mordred came out dragging Shirou with a sword across his neck.

"What are you doing? He has nothing to do with this!" Arturia pleaded.

"Does he? And yet by killing him I can not only eliminate the most powerful Faker the world has ever known but I can also eliminate the most powerful Counter Guardian in existence. Two threats eliminated in one swift stroke." Morgan sneered.

"How did you-?" Rin started.

"You think I wouldn't notice? That the boy would one day become the very servant who is standing next to you? It's really a no-brainer, why wouldn't I kill him if I would be eliminating two threats to my master? The fact that the two of you are love in with them is an added bonus, oh how I will enjoy this. Kill him and make sure there is no mistake this time!" Morgan ordered.

"With pleasure." Mordred replied as she moved to comply.

"NOOOOOOOOO!!!" Arturia screamed as she raced towards Mordred to stop her.

But she was too late as Shirou was beheaded before her very eyes. She watched in horror as Shirou slumped forward and she caught him and simply hugged him close, not caring about the blood seeping into her armor. Rin lost all strength in her legs at seeing her best friend beheaded before her very eyes and was caught by Archer. If she was surprised that Archer had not disappeared she didn't show it. Arturia, meanwhile simply stayed where she was not moving or stirring.

"NOW! Kill her while she's vulnerable!" Mordred ordered.

Mordred, Assassin and Giglamesh all went on the attack aiming for her head. They were completely caught off-guard when their weapons were stopped in mid-air being stopped by an invisible force. At this exact moment Arturia looked up with a murderous gleam in her eyes. She soon went on the offensive with little to no regard for her own safety.

"Why even fight, mother? The one man you ever cared about is dead and there's nothing you can do about it!" Mordred taunted her in the hopes of making her give into despair.

At this Arturia stopped her assault and the three Servants quickly put some between them and her.

"You're right! He is dead and there is nothing I can do about it! NOTHING EXCEPT SEE TO IT THAT YOU PAY FOR IT WITH YOUR LIVES, THAT IS!" Arturia raged.

At this moment a noticeable change came about in Arturia. The pupils in her eyes narrowed into vertical slits, her teeth sharpened into fangs. And her fingernails became sharper than daggers. At this moment Excalibur shimmered out of existence. Arturia let out an inhuman roar and started swiping at the first target she could see.

Assassin didn't have enough time to react to this sudden attack and was helpless as Arturia's nails shredded his jugular leaving him clutching his throat in agony as he slowly died. His body soon evaporated out of existence leaving Arturia with two very unnerved opponents. Suddenly, Arturia lunged and swiped at Giglamesh, tearing a set of parallel gashes in his armor but not doing any physical harm to him. Mordred and Giglamesh were extremely relieved to see a portal appear behind them and they wasted no time jumping through it. Arturia attempted to follow them but only flew through air.

"DAMN YOU! THIS IS FAR FROM OVER! I WILL FIND YOU AND ONLY YOUR ROTTING CORPSE WILL BE ABLE TO STOP ME!" Arturia raged into the sky.

Arturia attempted to run off in a seemingly random direction when she found herself blocked by Rin and Archer.

"And where do you think you're going?" Rin asked.

"I'm putting an end to this! They all have signed their death sentences and I'm the executioner! Their pitiful lives end tonight!" Arturia roared back in a monstrous voice.

"You don't stand a chance! Kotomine will destroy before you even set foot within 100 feet of him!" Rin retorted.

"Don't get in my way!" Arturia growled as she started to storm off.

Rin again tried to stop her and Arturia swiped at her with her claw-like nails and only Archer hauling her back saved her from being slashed open.

"Did she just-?" Rin gasped, scarcely believing what just happened.

"You aren't imagining things, it's clear that she isn't herself. I'm not sure we can stop her on our own. We're going to need help." Archer confirmed.

"You're right as always but what are we going to do about Shirou's body? We can't leave him here. I have an idea, but you aren't going to like it. I'm going to need you to carry him." Rin promised.

"I can't say I'm exactly thrilled by having to carry my own corpse around but its not like we have much choice." Archer grumbled.

"At least you won't have to carry it around for long. I'd been wondering how Kotomine had been creating such a stable portal so quickly and I'm pretty sure I've got it figured out. Here goes!" Rin said as she smashed a gem into the ground and muttered a quick incantation.

If Archer was surprised that it worked he said nothing and the two of them stepped through the created portal. They emerged to find that the kitchen was in pieces, almost literally in some cases. It was the same thing throughout the rest of the house until Rin jumped at a sound from behind her.

"Oh, it's you! I was worried they were back." Arveia greeted them as she stepped over the remains of the door she was standing on.

"They?" Rin asked.

"Those damn skeletons were here and they tore the place apart looking for something. Came out of nowhere and tried to ambush me almost as soon as I arrived." Arveia explained.

"What could they be… Oh no! Illya!" Rin started to run off to look.

"Don't worry, she's fine. I figured she was what they were after and made sure they didn't manage to grab her." Arveia revealed as Illya timidly peaked out from behind her.

"ONII-SAN!" Illya screamed upon seeing Shirou's body and ran over to it.

Illya curled up next to the body and became a senseless, crying mass until she slowly fell silent.

"Illya? Just now you called Shirou Onii-san, how is that possible?" Rin asked, confused.

By this time Illya was barely recovered but still managed to answer.

"You see, I didn't quite believe it myself and my parents, such as they were, actually tried to hide it from me. But you know that in order to create a homunculus you need a father to gather DNA from, and the person they chose was Kiritsusgu Emiya. Making Shirou my brother, even though I wasn't even aware of it at the time until I learned Kiritsugu had adopted him." Illya explained.

"So, the reason you wanted to be the one to defeat and kill him was…" Rin trailed off.

"I was angry, Kiritsugu promised that he would come back to get me so the two of us could live like a real family. He never did and I though he had just abandoned me and Shirou was my replacement. But now I know that he had planned to use the Grail to get me out until he learned it was tainted, I can't feel angry at him anymore for trying to destroy even if he did leave me behind. But even then I had my brother, until now." Illya finished before breaking down again.

At this time the Grail walked in and muttered, "Oh crap."

"Crap? CRAP!? SHIROU IS DEAD AND ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY IS CRAP!? THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT AND THAT'S ALL YOU HAVE FOR YOURSELF!?" Rin raged.

"You think I like this? Being the cause of another person dying? Do you know what it's like to be forced to suffer through the deaths of every single person to be killed over the course of the Grail Wars? It was enough to drive me nearly insane and the only thing that allowed me to retain what was left of my sanity was emotionally distancing myself from every single person I chose to participate in these bloody wars! SO DON'T YOU EVEN START ON ME!" He raged in response.

"I guess not." Rin meekly replied.

"Hey, where is Arturia?" Arveia asked to break the tension.

"We need to talk about that. We don't know." Rin replied.

"What do you mean?" Arveia asked with a cursory glance.

"You see… She, well…" Rin stuttered.

"You're not making sense. Just spit it…" Arveia started until seeing the state Shirou's body was in, "Where's Excalibur right now?"

"That's the thing it just disappeared, quite literally vanished into thin air." Rin explained.

"Did she suddenly grow fangs and did her nails suddenly change after this happened?" Arveia asked.

"I'll say, the three of them attacked her at once and suddenly hit an invisible shield of some sort. Then she used the nails on her left hand to rip out Assassin's throat and cut a huge hole in Giglamesh's armor with the nails on the other." Rin answered, "You know something, don't you?"

"Yes, and you're in for a bit of a shock." Arveia confirmed.

"Well, how bad could it be?" Rin aked, not knowing she was tempting fate.

"The truth is I am Arturia's mother." Arveia revealed.

**************************************************************************************


End file.
